50 Fun Facts About East Asia

Which city, the coldest national capital on Earth, is home to almost half of Mongolia's people?

Ulaanbaatar is so cold because of its high elevation, its distance from any coast and the Siberian anticyclone. Its name, adopted in 1924, means 'Red Hero'.

Which arid region shared by China and Mongolia yielded the first dinosaur eggs recognised by science?

The Gobi Desert gave up twenty-six dinosaur eggs in 1923, averaging 23 cm in length. It is a cold desert, and temperatures as low as −32.8 °C have been recorded in southern Mongolia.

Which city is home to the Ryugyong Hotel, a 330 m pyramid begun in 1987 and left unfinished for decades?

Pyongyang watched work on the hotel stop in 1992, when North Korea's economy went into crisis after the Soviet Union dissolved. In 2018 one side was fitted with an LED display that shows propaganda animations.

Which South Korean company, whose name means 'three stars', began in 1938 trading dried fish and noodles?

Samsung spent three decades moving into food processing, textiles, insurance and retail before it entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s. Lee Byung-chul founded it as a trading company.

Which dam in China's Hubei province is the largest power station on Earth by installed capacity?

The Three Gorges Dam stores so much water that NASA scientists calculated the shifted mass would lengthen Earth's day by 0.06 microseconds. Its installed capacity is 22,500 MW.

Which script did King Sejong introduce in the 1440s so that ordinary Koreans could read and write?

Hangul bases the shapes of five basic consonants on the human speech organs that make the sounds. Before it, Koreans wrote in Chinese characters so difficult that commoners were largely illiterate.

Which ruler, born Temüjin, united the Mongol tribes and founded the largest contiguous empire in history?

Genghis Khan took that title at an assembly in 1206, and its meaning is still uncertain. By his death in 1227 his empire ran from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea.

Which city, handed over to China by Britain in 1997, has a name that translates as 'fragrant harbour'?

Hong Kong was handed over at midnight on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule. The 'fragrant' in its name may refer to incense factories that lined the coast of northern Kowloon.

Which city's bamboo-inspired tower of 101 floors opened in 2004 as the tallest building in the world?

Taipei 101 held the height record until the Burj Khalifa surpassed it in 2009. Its lifts were the fastest in the world when it was completed, rising from the 5th to the 89th floor in 37 seconds.

Which volcano, the highest peak in Japan, has stayed quiet since an eruption that began in December 1707?

Mount Fuji became a frequent subject of Japanese art after 1600, when people travelling the Tōkaidō road saw the mountain on the way. Snow covers its symmetrical cone for about five months of the year.

Which Japanese city grew from a small fishing village called Edo into the seat of the Tokugawa shoguns?

Tokyo had more than a million people by the mid-18th century, which made it one of the largest cities in the world. It took its present name, meaning 'Eastern Capital', in 1868.

Which city became the first to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, in 2008 and 2022?

Beijing means 'Northern Capital', a name applied in 1403 to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the 'Southern Capital'. It has also hosted both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.

Which city's metropolitan area, which takes in Incheon, holds more than half of South Korea's people?

Seoul comes from a native Korean common noun that simply means 'capital city'. Its metropolitan area also takes in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

Which city, nicknamed the 'thousand-year capital', did Japan's emperors rule from for eleven centuries?

Kyoto was chosen as the seat of the imperial court by Emperor Kanmu in 794. It was spared large-scale destruction in World War II, so most of its prewar cultural heritage survives.

Which river, the longest in Asia, has a basin that is home to nearly one-third of China's population?

The Yangtze is called Chang Jiang in Chinese, meaning 'Long River'. It is the third-longest river in the world, and its basin covers one-fifth of China's land area.

Which waterway, nicknamed 'China's Sorrow' as well as 'China's Pride', is regarded as a cradle of civilisation?

The Yellow River earned the 'Sorrow' through floods such as that of 1887, which killed between 900,000 and 2 million people. Its colour comes from sediment picked up as it crosses the Loess Plateau.

Which mountain, called Sagarmatha in Nepali, marks part of the China–Nepal border at its summit?

Mount Everest honours Sir George Everest, who told the Royal Geographical Society in 1857 that the name could not be written in Hindi. The society officially adopted it anyway in 1865.

Which upland, with an average elevation above 4,500 m, is often called 'the Roof of the World'?

The Tibetan Plateau is also termed the Third Pole, because its ice fields hold the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions. Its tens of thousands of glaciers act as a natural water tower.

Which island, Japan's northernmost prefecture, was known as Ezo until it was renamed in 1869?

Hokkaido was primarily inhabited by the Ainu people until Japan annexed and colonised the entire island in 1869. It is the second-largest island of Japan.

What name is given to a hurricane-strength tropical cyclone in the northwestern Pacific, off East Asia?

A typhoon forms in the most active storm basin on Earth, which accounts for almost one third of the world's tropical cyclones. The basin has no official season, because storms form there throughout the year.

Which belt of volcanoes, where about 90% of the world's earthquakes occur, runs through Japan and Taiwan?

The Ring of Fire is about 40,000 km long and surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean. Off Japan and Taiwan, the Philippine Plate is being forced beneath the Eurasian Plate.

Which sea, known in South Korea as the East Sea, is so nearly enclosed that it has almost no tides?

The Sea of Japan has a name disputed between Japan, North Korea and South Korea. Its isolation from the Pacific also leaves its water less salty than the open ocean.

Which line of latitude did two US officers pick from a National Geographic map in 1945 to divide Korea?

The 38th parallel was chosen on extremely short notice by Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel. Rusk later said he would almost surely have picked a different line had he known Korean history.

Which territory, ruled by Portugal for 442 years until 1999, is known as the gambling capital of the world?

Macau is also the most densely populated region in the world, and two-thirds of its area is built on land reclaimed from the sea. It opened its casino industry to foreign investors after the handover.

Which dynasty, ruling China from 1368 to 1644, built the best-known sections of the Great Wall?

The Ming turned to wall-building after a defeat by the Oirats at the Battle of Tumu, using bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. From the Moon, the wall cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Which palace complex of 980 buildings was home to 24 Chinese emperors over about five centuries?

The Forbidden City claims 9,999 rooms, though surveys count 8,886 bays of rooms. It ceased to be China's political centre in 1912, when Puyi, the last emperor, abdicated.

Which archaeological treasure outside Xi'an was found in 1974 by Chinese farmers digging a well?

The Terracotta Army depicts the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and stands near his tomb mound at Mount Li. The majority of the figures remain in place in the three pits.

Which Japanese city was hit on 6 August 1945 by 'Little Boy', the first atomic bomb used in war?

Hiroshima was an embarkation port and industrial centre that housed a major military headquarters. The bombing order named Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki as the other possible targets.

Which Chinese philosopher had his sayings compiled in the Analects many years after his death?

Confucius is a Latinised name coined by Jesuit missionaries to China in the late 16th century. In the Analects he presents himself as a transmitter who invented nothing.

Which 'bullet train' network began service nine days before the 1964 Summer Olympics opened in Japan?

The Shinkansen carried over 10 billion passengers in its first 60 years without a passenger death from a derailment or collision. Its first line linked the four largest cities in Japan.

Which flower's spring bloom is tracked across Japan as an advancing 'front', moving north from March to May?

Cherry blossom lasts only a week or two, so its progress is watched closely by people planning viewing parties, known as hanami. The Japan Meteorological Agency records each opening and full bloom.

Which upmarket district gave its name to Psy's 2012 hit, the first YouTube video to reach a billion views?

Gangnam hosted only two of the music video's scenes, although more than ten different locations appear in it. The song passed a billion views on 21 December 2012.

Which form of Chinese, the basis of the national standard language, has nearly one billion native speakers?

Mandarin is often placed first in lists of languages by number of native speakers. Even so, many of its varieties, such as those of the southwest, cannot be understood by speakers of the capital's dialect.

Which Chinese province, known for mapo tofu and numbing pepper, is the main home of the giant panda?

Sichuan holds most of the giant panda's small, fragmented mountain populations, with the rest in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. The animals live in its bamboo forests, in ranges such as the Minshan Mountains.

Which island, South Korea's largest, is home to the haenyeo, women who dive for shellfish and seaweed?

Jeju is dominated by Hallasan, a volcano 1,947 metres high and the highest mountain in South Korea. Its haenyeo plunge up to 20 metres deep, holding their breath for one to three minutes.

Which island, the largest of Japan's Ryukyu chain, stayed under United States control until 1972?

Okinawa was annexed by Japan in 1879, along with the entire Ryukyu archipelago. The United States kept numerous military bases on the island after handing it back.

Which name, taken from the Portuguese for 'beautiful island', did European sailors give Taiwan in the 16th century?

Formosa replaced all other names for Taiwan in European literature. It remained in common use among English speakers into the 20th century.

Which Japanese name for Japan literally means 'the sun's origin' and lies behind 'Land of the Rising Sun'?

Nippon first appears in the Chinese Old Book of Tang, which notes that Japanese envoys asked for the change of name in 703. It gradually replaced the older name Yamato.

What is the Mongolian name for the portable, round felt tent that Turkic languages call a yurt?

A ger has one or more columns to support its crown and straight roof poles. The whole home is portable: its felt cover is carried on an expanding circular wooden frame.

Which emperor's name is given to the 1868 restoration that ended the rule of Japan's Tokugawa shoguns?

Meiji, whose personal name was Mutsuhito, reigned while Japan rapidly industrialised and adopted Western ideas and technology. By 1912 the country had emerged as one of the great powers in the world.

Which volcano on the China–North Korea border holds Heaven Lake in a caldera formed by an eruption in 946?

Mount Paektu has been considered sacred by Koreans throughout history, and both Korean and Manchu people regard it as their ancestral homeland. Snow covers its highest peak for about eight months of the year.

Which Korean state, founded in 918, is the source of the modern English name 'Korea'?

Goryeo developed movable metal type to print books in the early 13th century, 200 years before Johannes Gutenberg in Europe. It unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392.

Which river, known in Chinese as the 'Black Dragon River', forms a natural border between Russia and China?

The Amur is home to the kaluga, a sturgeon up to 5.6 m long that is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. Measured with its main tributary, it is the world's tenth longest river.

Which chain between Japan and Kamchatka includes four isles that Japan calls its Northern Territories?

The Kuril Islands were annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war in 1956 without signing a peace treaty.

Which freshwater body, the largest in Japan, is more than four million years old?

Lake Biwa is estimated to be the 13th oldest lake in the world, and about sixty of the more than 1,000 species and subspecies recorded in it are endemic. It supplies drinking water to about 15 million people.

Which lowland in the far northwest contains the lowest surface point in China, about 154 m below sea level?

The Turpan Basin is also, by some measures, the hottest and driest area in China during the summer. Its low point is Ayding Lake, also called Moonlight Lake.

Which body of water near Mongolia's border with Russia holds almost 70% of the country's fresh water?

Lake Khövsgöl is the second-most voluminous freshwater lake in Asia and is 262 metres deep. Its outflow joins the Selenge and ultimately reaches Lake Baikal.

Which Mongolian festival is called 'the three games of men' for its wrestling, horse racing and archery?

Naadam picks children aged 5 to 13 as jockeys for its horse races, whose main purpose is to test the skill of the horses. UNESCO inscribed the festival on its intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.

Which peak, the highest in Taiwan at 3,952 m, is also known in English as Jade Mountain?

Yushan supplied the Japanese navy's 'Go' signal for the attack on Pearl Harbor: 'Climb Mount Niitaka', the name the peak carried under Japanese rule. Niitakayama means 'New High Mountain'.

Which village on the border between North and South Korea was the place where the 1953 armistice was signed?

Panmunjom saw the armistice signed in a building that both sides constructed over a 48-hour period. Its name is often used for the nearby Joint Security Area and its blue buildings.