60 free Asia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
54 free Asia trivia questions with answers. Asian trivia that spans the whole continent, not just one corner of it. Geography questions cover Everest, Baikal, the Dead Sea, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Ganges, the Maldives and Indonesia's 17,000 islands; history takes in the Great Wall, the Silk Road, Genghis Khan and Singapore's independence; culture covers Diwali, Holi, Songkran, Buddhism and Hinduism, and inventions such as chess and paper. Food and pop culture get their own share: kimchi, sushi and pho, Bollywood, K-pop and BTS, anime and Osamu Tezuka, plus the Burj Khalifa, the Petronas Towers and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Easy questions come first and the harder ones will stretch geography teachers and travellers alike. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the places, events and traditions, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly what share of the world's population lives in Asia?
60%
About 4.7 billion people, on 30% of Earth's land area.
Q 02What is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level?
Everest
Its most recent survey, in 2020, put it at 8,848.86 metres; it is called Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet.
Q 03Peak XV was named after Sir George, the Briton whose surname it now bears. What post had he held?
Surveyor General
He opposed the honour, arguing 'Everest' could not be written in Hindi or pronounced by Indians.
Q 04In which year was the summit of the world's highest peak first reached?
1953
Only about 200 people had reached the top by 1987; by May 2024, 340 people had died on the mountain.
Q 05Which body of water is the deepest in the world, holding around 22-23% of Earth's fresh surface water?
Lake Baikal
It is a rift lake in southern Siberia, slightly larger than Belgium and 1,642 metres deep at most.
Q 06What is the world's largest inland body of water, straddling Europe and Asia?
Caspian Sea
Its main inflow is the Volga, Europe's longest river, and its surface lies about 27 metres below sea level.
Q 07The shores of which lake are the lowest land-based point on Earth?
The Dead Sea
At about 440 metres below sea level and 34% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, so swimmers float.
Q 08Which is the longest river in China and third-longest in the world?
Yangtze
It flows 6,236 km from the Tibetan Plateau to the East China Sea, and its delta produces about a fifth of China's GDP.
Q 09The Mekong is officially known by what name in China?
Lancang River
It runs 4,909 km through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Q 10What is the Ganges called in Bangladesh?
Padma
In Hindu mythology its source is the Bhagirathi, though hydrologists credit the longer Alaknanda.
Q 11Which is the smallest country in Asia by area?
Maldives
Its 26 atolls cover just 298 square kilometres of land spread over some 90,000 square kilometres of ocean.
Q 12Which country is the world's largest archipelagic state, with about 17,000 islands?
Indonesia
Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and parts of Borneo and New Guinea are among them.
Q 13The Gobi Desert lies in southern Mongolia and northern China. What does 'Gobi' mean in Mongolian?
Dryland
It is a cold desert and the sixth-largest in the world.
Q 14Which is the world's tallest structure, at 828 metres to the roof?
Q 21What is the total length of all the Great Wall's fortifications, per a 2012 survey?
21,196 km
They stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west; 22% of the best-known dynasty's wall has already disappeared.
Q 22Who was proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206, founding the largest contiguous empire in history?
Genghis Khan
At its height it stretched from the Sea of Japan to the Carpathians under an enforced Pax Mongolica.
Q 23Which Chinese dynasty's expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE began the Silk Road?
Han
The imperial envoy Zhang Qian's missions opened the routes, and the Great Wall was extended to protect them.
Burj Khalifa
Some of its structural steel was salvaged from the demolished Palace of the Republic in East Berlin.
Q 15Which building ended the Petronas Towers' reign as the world's tallest in 2004?
Taipei 101
The Kuala Lumpur pair remain the world's tallest twin skyscrapers.
Q 16What is the total length of the world's longest railway line, the Trans-Siberian?
About 9,300 km
It has linked Moscow to Vladivostok directly since 1916.
Q 17What is the largest religious complex in the world?
Angkor Wat
Built in the 12th century for Vishnu by the Khmer king Suryavarman II, it gradually became a Buddhist temple.
Q 18The 9th-century Buddhist temple of Borobudur is on which Indonesian island?
Java
Its nine platforms carry 2,672 relief panels and originally 504 Buddha statues.
Q 19The white marble mausoleum at Agra was built by Shah Jahan as a tomb for whom?
His wife Mumtaz
It sits on the Yamuna at Agra and was completed in 1648, with the wider complex finished by 1653.
Q 20The best-known sections of the Great Wall of China were built by which dynasty?
Ming
The earliest walls date to the 7th century BC and were first joined together under the Qin.
Q 24Chess descends from which 7th-century Indian game?
Chaturanga
It spread to Persia, then the Arab world and Europe; the current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju of India.
Q 25Papermaking is traditionally credited to which Han dynasty court official around 105 CE?
Cai Lun
Archaeological fragments of proto-paper from China date back to the 2nd century BCE.
Q 26Which is the world's third-largest religion, with about 1.17 billion followers mainly in India and Nepal?
Hinduism
It is also considered the world's largest ethnic religion, with communities in Mauritius and Bali too.
Q 27Which is the largest branch of Buddhism, dominant in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam?
Mahayana
Theravada, the second-largest, is followed mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
Q 28Diwali, the festival of lights, is linked to the return of which deity to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana?
Rama
It is also widely associated with Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity, and Ganesha, remover of obstacles.
Q 29Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, celebrates the love between which two deities?
Radha and Krishna
It also marks Vishnu's victory as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu.
Q 30Songkran, the Thai New Year, is celebrated on which date?
13 April
The holiday runs to 15 April and aligns with New Year festivals across South and Southeast Asia's Buddhist calendars.