Q 01/05

What does the name Beijing mean in Chinese?

A) Northern Capital

B) Great Capital

C) Heavenly City

D) Imperial Seat

Answer · why

A) Northern Capital

Northern Capital sets it against Nanjing, the 'Southern Capital': the name was given in 1403 so that the two Ming seats of government could be told ap...

Q 02/05

As of 2020, Beijing held which record among the world's national capitals?

A) Oldest continuously inhabited

B) Most populous national capital

C) Highest-altitude capital

D) Coldest national capital

Answer · why

B) Most populous national capital

Most populous national capital: more than 21 million people live in the municipality, against about 14 million in Tokyo's, yet Beijing is not even the...

Q 03/05

Which Beijing skyscraper, a giant angular loop of glass and steel, do locals call 'Big Pants'?

A) CCTV Headquarters

B) China World Tower

C) Galaxy Soho

D) Wangjing Soho

Answer · why

A) CCTV Headquarters

CCTV Headquarters is not a tower but a loop: two leaning legs bridged at the top, which is why Beijingers gave it the trouser nickname.

Q 04/05

The 'Peking Man' fossils found near Beijing belong to which early human species?

A) Homo erectus

B) Homo habilis

C) Homo neanderthalensis

D) Homo floresiensis

Answer · why

A) Homo erectus

Homo erectus: villagers had long dug the hill's 'dragon bones' for medicine before scientists arrived, and the original fossils vanished during World ...

Q 05/05

Which Mongol ruler built Dadu (Khanbaliq) on the site of Beijing as his Yuan dynasty capital?

A) Genghis Khan

B) Ögedei Khan

C) Kublai Khan

D) Timur

Answer · why

C) Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan raised Dadu beside the ruins of Zhongdu, the Jin capital that his grandfather Genghis had besieged, looted and burned about fifty years ea...