Answer Key - China General Knowledge Quiz 2
compiled by Thor May
1. Since China opened to the world (more or less) in 1978, the number of Chinese students studying overseas has totalled 2.2 million according to the Chinese Education Ministry, with about 1.1 million currently overseas. In 2011, 340,000 Chinese students left China to study overseas. (source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/china-has-sent-2-million-overseas-for-degrees-and-counting/story-e6frgcjx-1226273053873 )
2. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army was drastically reorganized into conventional military ranks after military encounters with the Vietnamese army in 1979. Prior to this, army organization emphasized the egalitarian ideals of Communist comradeship, at least on the surface. The public history of China’s one month invasion of Vietnam in 1979 is still controversial. China’s main army at the time was massed on the border with the Soviet Union. Vietnam was an ally of the Soviet Union. At that time the main Vietnamese army was in fact busy destroying the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. This action became necessary after the Khmer Rouge began to attack Vietnam’s border areas. Nevertheless both China and the United States officially supported the Khmer Rouge (to their disgrace) for political reasons. Vietnam insisted on acting independently and was considered by both China and America (which had lost the Vietnam War) as an enemy state.
Deng Xiao Peng, China’s leader, ordered the PLA to "teach Vietnam a lesson". (There also is some speculation that he wanted to distract the PLA while he was consolidating his own power in Beijing). However, the Vietnamese people had been fighting foreign invaders for a generation and were highly battle-hardened. That generation of the PLA on the other hand had little field experience. The Yunnan division which was given the job suffered from bad leadership (after the war the Yunnan division lost its area command status). When the PLA invaded North Vietnam in 1979 it was met by only reserve-level Vietnamese troops and the total hostility of the local Vietnamese population. It was a bad experience for the PLA, which was soon ordered to retreat back to China. However, while it was retreating the PLA followed a ‘scorched earth’ policy, destroying all crops, machinery and infrastructure.
3. Modern China’s first and most loved Premier was probably Zhōu Ēnlái 周恩来 (1898-1976). He served as Premier from 1949 to 1976, as well as being Foreign Minister. Zhōu Ēnlái was an extraordinarily complex man who served many in roles from the early formation of the Chinese Communist Party, often leading it either officially or unofficially but never actively seeking supreme power. He was fearless in emergencies, and organized armies under dire conditions. He was both a founder and a high official in the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Guomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek) while secretly recruiting Communist cells to undermine China’s Nationalist Government prior to the civil war of 1945-49. Like most revolutionary leaders he had much blood on his hands, yet he charmed almost everyone who ever met him, including foreigners. After CCP victory in 1949, his great organizing abilities made possible the creation of an entirely new system of government from scratch (a task entirely beyond the ability of Mao Zedong who soon almost destroyed it). There was a genuine outpouring of public grief at his death in 1976.
4. China has arguably the world’s longest continuous tradition of architecture, yet little of this architecture is still standing. Obviously there are many reasons for this loss, but the major one in modern China has been the destruction of old buildings by local officials, and replacement with fake “traditional historical sites”. The official China Daily ran an editorial on this problem 18 February 2012 : "Historical values fade under fakes" ( http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-02/18/content_14638367.htm).
5. The Chinese name for the biggest river in China is the Cháng Jiāng 长/長江 (translation: 'long river'), which is known in English as the Yangtze River. It flows for 6,418 kilometres from the Himalayan plateau in It is also one of the biggest rivers by discharge volume in the world. The Yangtze drains one-fifth of the land area of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its river basin is home to one-third of the PRC's population". [reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River]. The Cháng Jiāng is a major transport artery, unlike China's other most famous river, the Huáng Hé 黃河 (Yellow River) further north which is sometimes reduced to little more than a polluted trickle.
6. The Tang Dynasty (Táng Cháo 唐朝 A.D. 618 - 907) is often considered the peak of Chinese traditional civilization. It’s capital was called Chang'an 长安, which is today’s Xi'an 西安, located in mid-western China on a branch of the Huáng Hé 黃河. Luoyang 洛阳 is further downstream, where the Huáng Hé 黃河 leaves the mountains and spreads onto the vast Yellow River flood plain, home of China's original Han civilization. For that reason Luoyang 洛阳 was also an ancient capital at various times.
7. China’s favourite flower is probably the mǔdān huā 牡丹花, known in English as the peony flower. Luoyang 洛阳 is famous for its annual mǔdān huā 牡丹花 festival, and flower viewing is a popular Chinese cultural pastime. The méi huā 梅花 (plum blossom) is also popular since it is said to bloom under the harsher conditions of winter. The yīng huā 樱花 (cherry blossom) is often associated with the Japanese.
return to China Study Index