Q 01/05

The Terracotta Army stayed hidden until 1974, when local farmers were digging what?

A) A grave

B) A cellar

C) A well

D) A clay pit

Answer · why

C) A well

A well shaft struck a pit of full-size clay soldiers about 1.5 km east of the First Emperor's tomb mound. The farmers had only been looking for water.

Q 02/05

Which substance is said to have flowed as model rivers and seas inside the First Emperor's tomb?

A) Mercury

B) Molten bronze

C) Lamp oil

D) Rice wine

Answer · why

A) Mercury

Mercury may really be down there: soil tests over the unopened tomb mound found levels far above normal, which backs the ancient description.

Q 03/05

What was carted beside the dead First Emperor's wagon to mask the smell of his corpse in 210 BC?

A) Burning incense

B) Camphor wood

C) Pickled cabbage

D) Rotten fish

Answer · why

D) Rotten fish

Rotten fish covered the stench in the summer heat while plotters hid his death for the two-month journey home, changing his clothes and bringing him m...

Q 04/05

Which animal did Qin's chief eunuch bring to court and call a horse to expose disloyal ministers?

A) A donkey

B) A deer

C) An ox

D) A camel

Answer · why

B) A deer

A deer was the test, and every official who called it one was executed. Pointing at a deer and calling it a horse survives as a Chinese idiom.

Q 05/05

In which object did an assassin hide a poisoned dagger to get near the King of Qin in 227 BC?

A) A rolled-up map

B) A hollow lute

C) A lacquered box

D) A bolt of silk

Answer · why

A) A rolled-up map

A rolled-up map of land offered in surrender hid the blade. The king tore his sleeve free, dodged behind a pillar and survived to become the First Emp...