Q 01/05

In 105 AD the Han court official Cai Lun won the emperor's praise for an improved way of making what?

A) Glass

B) Bronze

C) Paper

D) Candles

Answer · why

C) Paper

Paper from Cai Lun's workshop was made of tree bark, hemp waste, old rags and fishnets, and he is still honoured in China as the patron of papermakers...

Q 02/05

The Han inventor Zhang Heng's bronze urn dropped a ball from a dragon's head into a toad's mouth to signal what?

A) An earthquake

B) A solar eclipse

C) A coming flood

D) An enemy attack

Answer · why

A) An earthquake

An earthquake some 400 km away once set the urn off before anyone at court felt a thing; days later a messenger confirmed a quake in the direction it ...

Q 03/05

Most people in modern China still use the Han dynasty's name as the everyday word for what?

A) Their national dish

B) Their currency

C) Their national anthem

D) Their ethnic group

Answer · why

D) Their ethnic group

Their ethnic group is known as the Han people and the written script as Han characters, so the dynasty's name is still spoken daily two thousand years...

Q 04/05

Which stone, cut into small plaques and sewn with gold or silver thread, made the burial suits of Han royals?

A) Amber

B) Jade

C) Marble

D) Agate

Answer · why

B) Jade

Jade suits had rules on paper: gold thread for emperors, silver for princes and princesses, copper for their children. Prince Liu Sheng's famous suit ...

Q 05/05

Lady Dai, the Han noblewoman found remarkably preserved at Mawangdui, had eaten which fruit shortly before she died?

A) Peach

B) Lychee

C) Melon

D) Persimmon

Answer · why

C) Melon

Melon seeds were still in her stomach and gut, telling researchers she died in summer within a few hours of eating, probably of a heart attack.