Q 01/05

What is distinctive about the faces of Qin Shi Huang's terracotta warriors?

A) All are identical

B) Each one is different

C) All portray the emperor

D) They were left unfinished

Answer · why

B) Each one is different

Each one is different: the heads came from only a handful of moulds, but craftsmen reworked every face, beard and hairstyle by hand in fresh clay, so ...

Q 02/05

Today's brick Great Wall dates from the Ming dynasty, so what were Qin Shi Huang's frontier walls mostly built from?

A) Timber logs

B) Bamboo poles

C) Rammed earth

D) Woven reeds

Answer · why

C) Rammed earth

Rammed earth, local soil pounded hard in layers, weathers away, one reason very little of the First Emperor's wall still stands.

Q 03/05

Qin Shi Huang boasted that his dynasty would last 10,000 generations, so roughly how long did it survive his death?

A) About 4 years

B) About 40 years

C) About 400 years

D) About 2,000 years

Answer · why

A) About 4 years

About 4 years: his heir's misrule set off revolts across the empire almost at once, and by 206 BC rebel armies had taken the capital and ended the dyn...

Q 04/05

What new title did the King of Qin create for himself in 221 BC, rather than keep the old title of king?

A) Taihuang

B) Huangdi

C) Bawang

D) Tianzi

Answer · why

B) Huangdi

Huangdi joined huang and di, titles of mythical sage rulers, to outrank every king before him; he ordered his heirs to be numbered Second Emperor, Thi...

Q 05/05

In which city, the capital of the state of Zhao, was the future First Emperor born?

A) Chang'an

B) Handan

C) Luoyang

D) Xianyang

Answer · why

B) Handan

Handan was where his father, a Qin prince, was being held hostage under a truce with Zhao, so the future emperor spent his first years among his state...