Q 01/05

How many animals are in the Chinese zodiac cycle?

A) 5

B) 12

C) 28

D) 60

Answer · why

B) 12

12 animals make up the cycle, one per year, but the animals came second: they were attached to the twelve Earthly Branches, an older Chinese system fo...

Q 02/05

The eighth zodiac animal's Chinese name, yang, covers goats and which other animal?

A) Sheep

B) Deer

C) Camel

D) Yak

Answer · why

A) Sheep

Sheep: the Chinese word yang covers sheep and goats alike, so the same zodiac year turns up in English as the Year of the Goat, the Ram or the Sheep.

Q 03/05

In the best-known telling of the zodiac legend, which deity called the race that ranked the animals?

A) The Jade Emperor

B) The Dragon King

C) The Yellow Emperor

D) The Monkey King

Answer · why

A) The Jade Emperor

The Jade Emperor, ruler of heaven in Chinese folk belief, usually calls the race and hands out places in finishing order; other tellings give the job ...

Q 04/05

The Chinese name for firecrackers, baozhu, literally means what?

A) Thunder blossoms

B) Exploding bamboo

C) Dragon's roar

D) Heaven's drumbeat

Answer · why

B) Exploding bamboo

Baozhu literally means 'exploding bamboo': the earliest firecrackers were hollow bamboo stalks thrown on a fire until the air inside burst the segment...

Q 05/05

In 1967, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned during which political campaign?

A) Great Leap Forward

B) Hundred Flowers Campaign

C) Cultural Revolution

D) Four Modernizations

Answer · why

C) Cultural Revolution

During the Cultural Revolution old customs were targets: official celebrations were banned in 1967, and it was the 1990s before the holiday became the...