Q 01/05

The two characters of Shanghai's name together mean what?

A) On the Sea

B) Great Harbour

C) Dragon's Mouth

D) Golden River

Answer · why

A) On the Sea

Historians think the area lay below sea level in the Tang era, so the land literally appeared to be on the sea; the name was fixed in 1280.

Q 02/05

Which river bisects Shanghai, dividing Puxi from Pudong?

A) The Yangtze

B) The Huangpu

C) The Pearl

D) The Qiantang

Answer · why

B) The Huangpu

Legend says Lord Chunshen ordered it dug in the Warring States period; twelve bridges and fourteen tunnels now cross it.

Q 03/05

Shanghai's Chinese abbreviation Hù comes from a word for what?

A) A river junk

B) A silk loom

C) A fishing tool

D) A salt pan

Answer · why

C) A fishing tool

The character appears on the city's licence plates; another old name, Shēn, honours Lord Chunshen whose fief covered the area.

Q 04/05

Shanghai's first city wall, built in 1554, was intended to protect the town from whom?

A) Mongol raiders

B) Taiping rebels

C) Portuguese traders

D) Japanese pirates

Answer · why

D) Japanese pirates

The wall stood 10 metres high and 5 km round; it was demolished in 1912 because it blocked the city's growth.

Q 05/05

Which 1842 agreement ending the First Opium War opened Shanghai as one of five treaty ports?

A) Tientsin

B) Shimonoseki

C) Nanking

D) Whampoa

Answer · why

C) Nanking

Britain, France and the United States then set up settlements outside the walled Chinese city.