China

Question 1

the special administrative regions of China

Answer 1

Hong Kong and Macau

Question 2

Four direct-controlled municipalities of China

Answer 2

Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing

Question 3

Which country has four “autonomous regions”

Answer 3

China

Question 4

is the second longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth longest river system in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi).[1] Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai province of Western China, it flows through nine provinces, and it empties into the Bohai Sea near the city of Dongying in Shandong province. The _______ basin has an east–west extent of about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 mi) and a north–south extent of about 1,100 km (680 mi). Its total drainage area is about 752,546 square kilometers (290,560 sq mi).

Its basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, and it was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. There are frequent devastating floods and course changes produced by the continual elevation of the river bed, sometimes above the level of its surrounding farm fields.

Answer 4

Yellow River

Question 5

First Chinese Empire

Answer 5

Qin

Question 6

___ dynasty, which ruled China from 206 BC until 220 AD, saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass,[18] along with agricultural and medical improvements.

Answer 6

Han Dynasty

Question 7

Compass[2]
Gunpowder[3]
Papermaking[4]
Printing[5]

Answer 7

The Four Great Inventions

Question 8

The Four Great Inventions

Answer 8

Compass[2]
Gunpowder[3]
Papermaking[4]
Printing[5]

Question 9

China emerged as one of the world’s earliest civilizations, in the fertile basin of the _____ in the North China Plain.

Answer 9

Yellow River

Question 10

is a peninsula in Northeast Africa. It extends hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred to in ancient and medieval times as the land of the Barbara and Habesha,[1][2][3] ______ denotes the region containing the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.[4][5][6][7]

It covers approximately 2 million km2 (770 thousand sq mi) and is inhabited by roughly 115 million people (Ethiopia: 96.6 million, Somalia: 15.4 million, Eritrea: 6.4 million, and Djibouti: 0.81 million). Regional studies on _______ are carried out, among others, in the fields of Ethiopian Studies as well as Somali Studies.

Answer 10

The Horn of Africa

Question 11

Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the _____ Revolution, when a republic replaced the Qing dynasty.

Answer 11

Xinhai

Question 12

was a civil war in China fought between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) lasting intermittently between 1927 and 1949. Although particular attention is paid to the four years of Chinese Communist Revolution from 1945 to 1949, the war actually started in August 1927, with the White Terror at the end of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition, and essentially ended when major hostilities between the two sides ceased in 1950.[9] The conflict took place in two stages, the first between 1927 and 1937, and the second from 1946 to 1950; the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945 was an interlude in which the two sides were united against the forces of Japan. The Civil War marked a major turning point in modern Chinese history, with the Communists gaining control of mainland China and establishing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to Taiwan. It resulted in a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all China.

The war represented an ideological split between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Nationalist Party of China (or Kuomintang). Conflict continued intermittently until late 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front to counter the Imperial Japanese Army threat and to prevent the country from crumbling. Full-scale civil war in China resumed in 1946, a year after the end of hostilities with the Empire of Japan in September 1945. Four years later came the cessation of major military activity, with the newly founded People’s Republic of China controlling mainland China (including the island of Hainan), and the Republic of China’s jurisdiction restricted to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and several outlying islands.

As of May 2019 no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed, and the debate continues as to whether the civil war has legally ended.[10] Relations between both sides, officially called the Cross-Strait relations, have been hindered by military threats and political and economic pressure, particularly over Taiwan’s political status, with both governments officially adhering to the One-China policy. The PRC still actively claims Taiwan as part of its territory and continues to threaten the ROC with a military invasion if the ROC officially declares independence by changing its name to and gaining international recognition as the “Republic of Taiwan”. The ROC, for its part, claims mainland China, and both parties continue the fight over diplomatic recognition. As of 2018 the war as such occurs on the political and economic fronts, without actual military action. However, the two separate governments in China have close economic ties.[11]

Answer 12

The Chinese Civil War

Question 13

UN Security Council Members

Answer 13

Permanent members:
 China
 France
 Russia
 United Kingdom
 United States
Non-permanent members:
 Belgium
 Dominican Republic
 Equatorial Guinea
 Germany
 Indonesia
 Ivory Coast
 Kuwait
 Peru
 Poland
 South Africa

Question 14

Largest city in China

Answer 14

Shanghai

Question 15

Majority ethnic group in China

Answer 15

Han

Question 16

Current Party General Secretary

and President of China

Answer 16

Xi Jinping

Question 17

Currency Renminbi (yuan; ¥)[i] (CNY)

Answer 17

China

Question 18

Current Premier of China

Answer 18

Li Keqiang

Question 19

The word appears in Richard Eden’s 1555 translation[l] of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[

Answer 19

“China”

Question 20

is an example of Homo erectus. Discovered in 1923–27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian (Chou K’ou-tien) near Beijing (written “Peking” before the adoption of the Pinyin romanization system), China, in 2009 this group of fossil specimens dated from roughly 750,000 years ago,[1] and a new 26Al/10Be dating suggests they are in the range of 680,000–780,000 years old.[2][3]

Answer 20

Peking Man

Question 21

was a paleoanthropological hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. In 2016, the results of an extensive scientific review established that amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson had very likely perpetrated the hoax.[1]

Answer 21

Piltdown Man

Question 22

According to Chinese tradition, the first dynasty was the _____, which emerged around 2100 bce.[53] The dynasty was considered mythical by historians until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou, Henan in 1959.[

Answer 22

Xia

Question 23

was the form of Chinese characters used on oracle bones—animal bones or turtle plastrons used in pyromantic divination—in the late 2nd millennium BCE, and is the earliest known form of Chinese writing.

Answer 23

Oracle Bone Script

Question 24

The Shang was conquered by the _____, who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries bce, though centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords.

Answer 24

Zhou

Question 25

was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC[a])[2] which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period’s name derives from the ________ Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius (551–479 BC).

Answer 25

The Spring and Autumn Period

Question 26

was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest that saw the annexation of all other contender states, which ultimately led to the Qin state’s victory in 221 BC as the first unified Chinese empire, known as the Qin dynasty.

Although different scholars point toward different dates ranging from 481 BC to 403 BC as the true beginning of the Warring States, Sima Qian’s choice of 475 BC is the most often cited. The Warring States era also overlaps with the second half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, though the Chinese sovereign, known as the king of Zhou, ruled merely as a figurehead and served as a backdrop against the machinations of the warring states.

The “Warring States Period” derives its name from the Record of the Warring States, a work compiled early in the Han dynasty.

Much later, Japanese historians—well versed in Chinese culture—used the term Warring States period for the Sengoku period of their own history.

Answer 26

Warring States Period

Question 27

The Warring States period ended in 221 bce after the state of _____ conquered the other six kingdoms, reunited China and established the dominant order of totalitarian autocracy. King Zheng of ____ proclaimed himself the First Emperor of the _____ dynasty.

Answer 27

Qin

Question 28

form a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has many of the Earth’s highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. The Himalayas include over fifty mountains exceeding 7,200 m (23,600 ft) in elevation, including ten of the fourteen 8,000-metre peaks. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia (Aconcagua, in the Andes) is 6,961 m (22,838 ft) tall.[1]

Answer 28

The Himalayas

Question 29

After the end of the Han dynasty, a period of strife known as ______ followed

Answer 29

Three Kingdoms

Question 30

In sinology, the Classic Chinese Novels are two sets of the four or six best-known traditional Chinese novels. The Four Classic Novels include Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Water Margin and Dream of the Red Chamber, and the Six Classic Novels add Rulin waishi and Jin Ping Mei to this list. These are among the world’s longest and oldest novels,[1] and they are the most read, studied and adapted works of pre-modern Chinese fiction.[2][3][4][5]

Answer 30

Just some info about China :)

Question 31

The ____ Dynasty restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture and economy, constructed the Grand Canal, and patronized Buddhism. However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and a failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest.[69][70]

Answer 31

Sui Dynasty

Question 32

was a devastating rebellion against the Tang dynasty of China.

Answer 32

An Lushan Rebellion

Question 33

The 13th century brought the Mongol conquest of China. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the ____ dynasty; the ____ conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279.

Answer 33

Yuan Dynasty

Question 34

A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan in 1368 and founded the ____ dynasty

Answer 34

Ming Dynasty

Question 35

In the early years of the Ming dynasty, China’s capital was moved from _____ to Beijing.

Answer 35

Nanking

Question 36

The _____ dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. Its conquest of the Ming (1618–1683) cost 25 million lives and the economy of China shrank drastically.

Answer 36

Qing

Question 37

The _____ was a series of related isolationist Chinese policies restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and some of the Qing.

Answer 37

Sea ban

Question 38

______ was a peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later called the unequal treaties.[2]

In the wake of China’s military defeat, with British warships poised to attack Nanking, British and Chinese officials negotiated on board HMS Cornwallis anchored at the city. On 29 August, British representative Sir Henry Pottinger and Qing representatives Qiying, Yilibu, and Niu Jian signed the treaty, which consisted of thirteen articles. The treaty was ratified by the Daoguang Emperor on 27 October and Queen Victoria on 28 December. Ratification was exchanged in Hong Kong on 26 June 1843. A copy of the treaty is kept by the British government while another copy is kept by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of China at the National Palace Museum in Taipe

Answer 38

The Treaty of Nanking

Question 39

were two wars in the mid-19th century involving Great Qing and the British Empire and concerning the British imposition of trade of opium upon China, thus compromising China’s sovereignty and economic power for almost a century. The clashes included the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The wars and events between them weakened the Qing dynasty and forced China to trade with the other parts of the world.[1][2]

Answer 39

The Opium Wars

Question 40

was a rebellion initiated by followers of the White Lotus movement during the Qing dynasty of China. The rebellion began in 1794, when large groups of rebels claiming White Lotus affiliations rose up within the mountainous region that separated Sichuan province from Hubei and Shaanxi provinces.[1] A smaller precursor to the main rebellion broke out in 1774, under the leadership of the martial-arts and herbal-healing expert Wang Lun in Shandong province of northern China.

Although the rebellion was finally crushed by the Qing government in 1804, it marked a turning point in the history of the Qing dynasty. Qing control weakened and prosperity diminished by the 19th century. The rebellion is estimated to have caused the deaths of some 100,000 rebels.[2][3]

Answer 40

The White Lotus Rebellion

Question 41

is located in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 1,100 km (680 mi) from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to the east and the Yellow Sea (West Sea) to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the two bodies of water.[1]

Answer 41

The Korean Peninsula

Question 42

is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated.[3] A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus.

Canals are often built across isthmuses, where they may be a particularly advantageous shortcut for marine transport. For example, the Panama Canal crosses the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, cutting across the western side of the Isthmus of Suez, formed by the Sinai Peninsula; and the Crinan Canal crosses the isthmus between Loch Crinan and Loch Gilp, which connects the Kintyre peninsula with the rest of Scotland. Another example is the Welland Canal in the Niagara Peninsula (technically an isthmus). It connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand is situated on an isthmus.

Answer 42

Isthmus

Question 43

was a massive rebellion or civil war in China that was waged from 1850 to 1864 between the established Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Led by Hong Xiuquan, the self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ, the goals of the Taipings were religious, nationalist, and political in nature; they sought the conversion of the Chinese people to the Taiping’s syncretic version of Christianity, the overthrow of the ruling Manchus, and a wholesale transformation and reformation of the state.[7][8] Rather than simply supplanting the ruling class, the Taipings sought to upend the moral and social order of China.[9] To that end, they established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as an oppositional state based in Tianjing (present-day Nanjing) and gained control of a significant part of southern China, eventually expanding to command a population base of nearly 30 million people.

For over a decade, the Taiping occupied and fought across much of the mid and lower Yangtze valley. Ultimately devolving into total war, the conflict between the Taiping and the Qing was the largest in China since the Qing conquest in 1644 and involved every province of China proper except Gansu. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century. Estimates of the war dead range from 20–70 million to as high as 100 million, with millions more displaced.[10][11]

Severely weakened by an attempted coup and unable to capture the Qing capital of Beijing, the Taipings were ultimately defeated by decentralized, irregular armies such as the Xiang Army commanded by Zeng Guofan. Having already moved down the Yangtze River and recaptured the key city of Anqing, Guofan’s Xiang Army began besieging Nanjing in May 1862. Two years later, on June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died and Nanjing fell barely a month later. After the defeat of the Taipings, Zeng Guofan and many of his protégés, such as Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, were celebrated as saviors of the Qing empire and became some of the most powerful men in late-19th-century China.

Answer 43

Taiping Rebellion

Question 44

or Hui (Muslim) Minorities War was a mainly ethnic and religious war fought in 19th-century western China, mostly during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (r. 1861–75) of the Qing dynasty. The term sometimes includes the Panthay Revolt in Yunnan, which occurred during the same period. However, this article relates specifically to the uprising by members of the Muslim Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups in China’s Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, as well as in Xinjiang, between 1862 and 1877.

The conflict led to a recorded 20.77 million population reduction in Shaanxi and Gansu occurred due to migration and war related death. A further 74.5% population reduction occurred in Gansu, and 44.7% in Shaanxi. In Shaanxi, 83.7% (~5.2 million) of the total loss occurred in the period of war as a consequence of mass migration and war-related death.[2][3] Many civilian deaths were also caused by famine due to war conditions.[4]

The uprising occurred on the western bank of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, but excluded Xinjiang Province. A chaotic affair, it often involved diverse warring bands and military leaders with no common cause or a single specific goal. A common misconception is that the revolt was directed against the Qing dynasty, but no evidence shows that the rebels intended to attack the capital, Beijing, or to overthrow the entire Qing government, but to exact revenge on their personal enemies for injustices.[5] When the revolt failed, mass emigration of the Dungan people from Ili to Imperial Russia ensued.

Answer 44

Dungan Revolt

Question 45

The _____ Dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion, the failed Taiping Rebellion that ravaged southern China in the 1850s and 1860s and the Dungan Revolt (1862–77) in the northwest. The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by a series of military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s.

Answer 45

Qing Dynasty

Question 46

of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the eleventh and last Emperor of the Qing dynasty. When he was a child, he reigned as the Xuantong Emperor (/ˈʃwɑːnˈtʊŋ/;[2] Chinese: 宣統帝; Manchu: ᡤᡝᡥᡠᠩᡤᡝ
ᠶᠣᠰᠣ
ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠩᡩᡳ; Möllendorff: gehungge yoso hūwangdi) in China and Khevt Yos Khaan in Mongolia from 1908 until his forced abdication on 12 February 1912, after the Xinhai Revolution. From 1 July to 12 July in 1917, he was briefly restored to the throne as emperor by the warlord Zhang Xun.

Answer 46

Puyi

Question 47

On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and _____ of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president.

Answer 47

Sun Yat-Sen

Question 48

also known as Generalissimo Chiang or Chiang Chungcheng and romanized as Chiang Chieh-shih or Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese politician and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975, first in mainland China until 1949 and then in Taiwan until his death. He was recognized by much of the world as the head of the legitimate government of China until 1971, during which the United Nations passed Resolution 2758.

Chiang was an influential member of the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party, as well as a close ally of Sun Yat-sen. Chiang became the commandant of the Kuomintang’s Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun’s place as leader of the KMT following the Canton Coup in early 1926. Having neutralized the party’s left wing, Chiang then led Sun’s long-postponed Northern Expedition, conquering or reaching accommodations with China’s many warlords.[3]

From 1928 to 1948, Chiang served as the chairman and generalissimo of the National Government of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang was a nationalist, promoting traditional Chinese culture in the New Life Movement. Unable to maintain Sun’s good relations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chiang tried to purge them in the 1927 Shanghai Massacre and repressed uprisings at Kwangtung (“Canton” region) and elsewhere.

At the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became the Chinese theater of World War II, Marshal Zhang Xueliang kidnapped Chiang and obliged him to establish a Second United Front with the CCP. After the defeat of the Japanese, the American-sponsored Marshall Mission, an attempt to negotiate a coalition government, failed in 1946. The Chinese Civil War resumed, with the CCP led by Mao Zedong defeating the KMT and declaring the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Chiang’s government and army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted critics in a period known as the “White Terror”. After evacuating to Taiwan, Chiang’s government continued to declare its intention to retake mainland China. Chiang ruled Taiwan securely as President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975, just one year before Mao’s death.[4]

Like Mao, Chiang is regarded as a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with playing a major part in the Allied victory of World War II and unifying the nation and a national figure of the Chinese resistance against Japan as well as his staunch anti-Soviet and anti-communist stance. Detractors and critics denounce him as a dictator at the front of an authoritarian autocracy who suppressed and purged opponents and critics and arbitrarily incarcerated those he deemed as opposing to the Kuomintang among others. Critics estimate that the Nationalist government was responsible for between 6 and 18.5 million deaths.[5]

Answer 48

Chiang Kai-Shek

Question 49

as a Chinese politician, medical doctor and philosopher who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China; and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He is referred as the “Father of the Nation” in the Republic of China due to his instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution. Sun remains a unique figure among 20th-century Chinese leaders for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan.

Although Sun is considered to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution and the Han Chinese regaining power after 268 years of living under Manchurian rule (Qing dynasty), he quickly resigned from his post as President of the newly founded Republic of China to Yuan Shikai, and led a successive revolutionary government as a challenge to the warlords who controlled much of the nation. Sun did not live to see his party consolidate its power over the country during the Northern Expedition. His party, which formed a fragile alliance with the Chinese Communist Party, split into two factions after his death.

Sun’s chief legacy resides in his developing of the political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People: nationalism (Han Chinese nationalism: independence from imperialist domination – taking back power from the Manchurian Qing dynasty), “rights of the people”, sometimes translated as “democracy”,[3] and the people’s livelihood (just society).[4][5]

Answer 49

Sun Yat-Sen

Question 50

as an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (Nanking), then the capital of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants who numbered an estimated 40,000 to over 300,000,[7][8] and perpetrated widespread rape and looting.[9][10]

Since most Japanese military records on the killings were kept secret or destroyed shortly after the surrender of Japan in 1945, historians have been unable to accurately estimate the death toll of the massacre. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo estimated in 1946 that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in the incident.[11] China’s official estimate is more than 300,000 dead based on the evaluation of the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal in 1947. The death toll has been actively contested among scholars since the 1980s.[3][12]

The event remains a contentious political issue and a stumbling block in Sino-Japanese relations. The Chinese government has been accused of exaggerating aspects of the massacre such as the death toll by many Japanese,[13] while historical negationists and Japanese nationalists go as far as claiming the massacre was fabricated for propaganda purposes.[8][14][15][16] The controversy surrounding the massacre remains a central issue in Japanese relations with other Asia-Pacific nations as well, such as South Korea.[17]

Although the Japanese government has admitted to the killing of a large number of non-combatants, looting, and other violence committed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the fall of Nanjing,[18][19] and Japanese veterans who served there have confirmed that a massacre took place,[20] a small but vocal minority within both the Japanese government and society have argued that the death toll was military in nature and that no such crimes ever occurred. Denial of the massacre and revisionist accounts of the killings have become a staple of Japanese nationalism.[21] In Japan, public opinion of the massacre varies, but few deny outright that the event occurred.[21]

Answer 50

Rape of Nanking

Question 51

The _______ (1937–1945), a theater of World War II, forced an uneasy alliance between the Kuomintang and the PLA. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; in all, as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died.[99] An estimated 200,000 Chinese were massacred in the city of Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation.[100] During the war, China, along with the UK, the US, and the Soviet Union, were referred to as “trusteeship of the powerful”[101] and were recognized as the Allied “Big Four” in the Declaration by United Nations.[102][103] Along with the other three great powers, China was one of the four major Allies of World War II, and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war.[104][105] After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, including the Pescadores, was returned to Chinese control. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.[106]

Answer 51

Second Sino-Japanese War

Question 52

was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1958 to 1962. The campaign was led by Chairman Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. These policies led to social and economic disaster, but these failures were hidden by widespread exaggeration and deceitful reports. In short order, large internal resources were diverted to use on expensive new industrial operations, which, in turn, failed to produce much, and deprived the agricultural sector of urgently needed resources. A significant result was a drastic decline in food output, which caused millions of deaths in the Great Chinese Famine.

Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization. Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries. Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions and social pressure, although people also experienced forced labor.[1] Rural industrialization, officially a priority of the campaign, saw “its development … aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward.”[2]

It is widely regarded by historians that The Great Leap resulted in tens of millions of deaths.[3] A lower-end estimate is 18 million, while extensive research by Chinese historian Yu Xiguang suggests the death toll from the movement is closer to 56 million.[4] Historian Frank Dikötter asserts that “coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the foundation of the Great Leap Forward” and it “motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history”.[5]

The years of the Great Leap Forward saw economic regression, with 1958 through 1962 being one of two periods between 1953 and 1976 in which China’s economy shrank.[6] Political economist Dwight Perkins argues, “enormous amounts of investment produced only modest increases in production or none at all. … In short, the Great Leap was a very expensive disaster.”[7]

In subsequent conferences in March 1960 and May 1962, the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were studied by the CPC, and Mao Zedong was criticized in the party conferences. Moderate Party members like President Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, and Chairman Mao was marginalized within the party, leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in order to re-consolidate his power.

Answer 52

The Great Leap Forward

Question 53

was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until 1976. Launched by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated goal was to preserve Chinese Communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Mao Zedong Thought (known outside China simply as Maoism) as the dominant ideology within the Party. The Revolution marked Mao’s return to a position of power after the failures of his Great Leap Forward. The movement paralyzed China politically and negatively affected both the economy and society of the country to a significant degree.

The movement was launched in May 1966, after Mao alleged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society at large, aiming to restore capitalism. To eliminate his rivals within the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mao insisted that revisionists be removed through violent class struggle. China’s youth responded to Mao’s appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread armed clashes between conservative and radical factions in all walks of life, as a result of Mao’s open call for “all-round civil war” against the conservatives in the communist party establishment. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials, most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. During the same period, Mao’s personality cult grew to immense proportions.

In the violent struggles that ensued across the country, millions of people were persecuted and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, hard labor, sustained harassment, seizure of property and sometimes execution. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced, most notably the transfer of urban youth to rural regions during the Down to the Countryside Movement. Historical relics and artifacts were destroyed and cultural and religious sites were ransacked.

Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of military leader and proposed Mao successor Lin Biao in 1971. After Mao’s death and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, reformers led by Deng Xiaoping gradually began to dismantle the Maoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the Party declared that the Cultural Revolution was “responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the country, and the people since the founding of the People’s Republic”.[1]

Answer 53

The Cultural Revolution

Question 54

was a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence as malefactors during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and were ultimately charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang’s leading figure was Jiang Qing (Mao Zedong’s last wife). The other members were Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen.[1]

The Gang of Four controlled the power organs of the Communist Party of China through the later stages of the Cultural Revolution,[citation needed] although it remains unclear which major decisions were made by Mao Zedong and carried out by the Gang, and which were the result of the Gang of Four’s own planning.

The Gang of Four, together with disgraced general Lin Biao who died in 1971, were labeled the two major “counter-revolutionary forces” of the Cultural Revolution and officially blamed by the Chinese government for the worst excesses of the societal chaos that ensued during the ten years of turmoil. Their downfall on October 6, 1976, a mere month after Mao’s death, brought about major celebrations on the streets of Beijing and marked the end of a turbulent political era in China.

Their fall did not amount to a rejection of the Cultural Revolution as such. It was organized by the new leader, Premier Hua Guofeng, and others who had risen during that period. Significant repudiation of the entire process of change came later, with the return of Deng Xiaoping at the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.[2] and Hua’s gradual loss of authority.[3]

Answer 54

The Gang of Four

Question 55

as a Chinese politician who was the paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 until his retirement in 1989. After Chairman Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, Deng led China through far-reaching market-economy reforms.

Born into a peasant background in Guang’an, Sichuan province, Deng studied and worked in France in the 1920s, where he became a follower of Marxism–Leninism. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1923. Upon his return to China, he joined the party organization in Shanghai, then was a political commissar for the Red Army in rural regions and by the late 1930s was considered a “revolutionary veteran” because he participated in the Long March.[6] Following the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Deng worked in Tibet and the southwest region to consolidate Communist control.

As the party’s Secretary General in the 1950s, Deng presided over Anti-Rightist Campaigns and became instrumental in China’s economic reconstruction following the Great Leap Forward of 1957–1960. However, his economic policies caused him to fall out of favor with Mao Zedong and was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution.

Following Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, Deng outmanoeuvred the late chairman’s chosen successor Hua Guofeng in December 1978. Inheriting a country beset with social conflict, disenchantment with the Communist Party and institutional disorder resulting from the chaotic policies of the Mao era, Deng became the paramount figure of the “second generation” of party leadership.

While Deng never held office as the head of state, head of government or General Secretary (leader of the Communist Party), some called him “the architect”[7] of a new brand of thinking that combined socialist ideology with free enterprise[8] whose slogan was “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Deng opened China to foreign investment and the global market, policies that are credited with developing China into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world for several generations and raising the standard of living of hundreds of millions.[9]

Deng was the Time Person of the Year in 1978 and 1985, the third Chinese leader (after Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling) and the fourth communist leader (after Joseph Stalin, picked twice; and Nikita Khrushchev) to be selected. He was criticized for ordering the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, but praised for his reaffirmation of the reform program in his Southern Tour of 1992 and the reversion of Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. Deng died in February 1997, aged 92.

Answer 55

Deng Xiaoping

Question 56

commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident

Answer 56

Tienanmen Square Protests

Question 57

Set off by the death of pro-reform Communist leader Hu Yaobang in April 1989, amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social changes in post-Mao China, the protests reflected anxieties about the country’s future in the popular consciousness and among the political elite.

Answer 57

Tienanmen Square Protests

Question 58

is a retired Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002 as Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2004 and as President of the People’s Republic of China from 1993 to 2003. Jiang has been described as the “core of the third generation” of Communist Party leaders since 1989.

Jiang came to power unexpectedly as a ‘compromise candidate’ following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when he replaced Zhao Ziyang as General Secretary after Zhao was ousted for his support for the student movement. With the waning influence of Eight Elders due to old age and with the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997, Jiang consolidated his hold on power and became the “paramount leader” of the party and the country in the 1990s.

Urged by Deng’s southern tour in 1992 to accelerate “opening up and reform”, Jiang officially introduced the term “socialist market economy” in his speech during the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held later that year, ending a period of ideological uncertainty and economic stagnation following 1989. Under Jiang’s leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of reforms, saw the peaceful return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Macau from Portugal in 1999 and improved its relations with the outside world while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the government. His contributions to party doctrine, known as the “Three Represents,” were written into the party’s constitution in 2002.[3] Jiang vacated the post of party General Secretary and Politburo Standing Committee in 2002, but did not relinquish all of his leadership titles until 2005, and continued to influence affairs until much later. At the age of 92 years, 281 days, Jiang is the longest-living paramount leader in the history of the PRC, surpassing Deng Xiaoping on 14 February 2019.

Answer 58

Jiang Zemin

Question 59

is a Chinese politician who was the paramount leader of China from 2002 to 2012.[note 1] He held the offices of General Secretary of the Communist Party from 2002 to 2012, President of the People’s Republic from 2003 to 2013 and Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 2004 to 2012. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s de facto top decision-making body, from 1992 to 2012.

Answer 59

Hu Jintao

Question 60

is a large desert or brushland region in Asia.[1] It covers parts of Northern and Northeastern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Taklamakan Desert to the west, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road.

The Gobi is a rain shadow desert, formed by the Tibetan Plateau blocking precipitation from the Indian Ocean reaching the Gobi territory.

Answer 60

Gobi Desert

Question 61

is a desert in southwest Xinjiang in Northwest China. It is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan (ancient Mount Imeon) to the west and north, and the Gobi Desert to the east.

The name may be an Uyghur borrowing of the Persian tark, “to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon” + makan, “place”.[1][2] Some sources claimed it means “Place of No Return”, more commonly interpreted as “once you get in, you’ll never get out” or similar.[3][4][5] Another plausible explanation suggests it is derived from Turki taqlar makan, describing “the place of ruins”.[6][7]

Answer 61

Taklamakan Desert

Question 62

a large mountain range spanning the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It begins in the Wakhan Corridor (Afghanistan) in the west and encompasses the majority of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan) and extends into Ladakh (India), and the disputed Aksai Chin region controlled by China. It is the second highest mountain range in the world, and part of the complex of ranges including the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayan Mountains.[1][2]. The Karakoram has eight summits over 7,500 m (24,600 ft) height, with four of them exceeding 8,000 m (26,000 ft):[3] K2, the second highest peak in the world at 8,611 m (28,251 ft), Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II.

The range is about 500 km (311 mi) in length, and is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 76 kilometres (47 mi) and the Biafo Glacier at 63 kilometres (39 mi) rank as the world’s second and third longest glaciers outside the polar regions.[4]

The Karakoram is bounded on the east by the Aksai Chin plateau, on the northeast by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the river valleys of the Yarkand and Karakash rivers beyond which lie the Kunlun Mountains. At the northwest corner are the Pamir Mountains. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the Himalaya range proper. These rivers flow northwest before making an abrupt turn southwestward towards the plains of Pakistan. Roughly in the middle of the Karakoram range is the Karakoram Pass, which was part of a historic trade route between Ladakh and Yarkand but now inactive.

The Tashkurghan National Nature Reserve and the Pamir Wetlands National Nature Reserve in the Karalorun and Pamir mountains have been nominated for inclusion in UNESCO in 2010 by the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO and has tentatively been added to the list.[5]

Answer 62

Karakoram

Question 63

also known as the Tengri Tagh[citation needed], meaning the Mountains of Heaven or the Heavenly Mountain, is a large system of mountain ranges located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Jengish Chokusu, at 7,439 metres (24,406 ft) high. Its lowest point is the Turpan Depression, which sits at 154 m (505 ft) below sea level.[1]

Answer 63

Tian Shan

Question 64

are a mountain range in Central Asia, at the junction of the Himalayas with the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush, Suleman and Hindu Raj ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains.

The Pamir Mountains lie mostly in the Gorno-Badakhshan province of Tajikistan.[1] To the north, they join the Tian Shan mountains along the Alay Valley of Kyrgyzstan. To the south, they border the Hindu Kush mountains along Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor. To the east, they extend to the range that includes China’s Kongur Tagh, in the “Eastern Pamirs”,[2] separated by the Yarkand valley from the Kunlun Mountains.

Answer 64

Pamir Mountains

Question 65

___ is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. Its source is in the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau and it flows 6,300 km (3,900 mi) in a generally eastern direction to the East China Sea. It is the sixth-largest river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country’s population.[7]

The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of the PRC’s GDP. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.[8][9] In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.[10]

The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and endangered species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, the Chinese paddlefish, the (extinct) Yangtze River dolphin or baiji, and the Yangtze sturgeon. In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution,[11] agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer 65

Yangtze River

Question 66

is located between China and Korea. The name is given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden yellow.

The innermost bay of the Yellow Sea is called the Bohai Sea (previously Pechihli Bay or Chihli Bay). Into it flow both the Yellow River (through Shandong province and its capital Jinan) and Hai He (through Beijing and Tianjin). Deposits of sand and silt from those rivers contribute to the sea colour.

The northern extension of the Yellow Sea is called the Korea Bay.

The Yellow Sea is one of four seas named after common colour terms — the others being the Black Sea, the Red Sea and the White Sea.

Since 1 November 2018, the Yellow Sea has also served as the location of “peace zones” between North and South Korea.[1]

Answer 66

The Yellow Sea

Question 67

is a body of water and marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean between the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Western Asia.[1] It is supplied by a number of major rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester, Don, and the Rioni. Many countries drain into the Black Sea,[2] including Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2 (168,500 sq mi) (not including the Sea of Azov),[3] a maximum depth of 2,212 m (7,257 ft),[4] and a volume of 547,000 km3 (131,000 cu mi).[5] It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south, Caucasus Mountains to the east, Crimean Mountains to the north, Strandzha to the southwest, Dobrogea Plateau to the northwest, and features a wide shelf to the northwest.

The longest east–west extent is about 1,175 km (730 mi).[6]

Important cities along the coast include Batumi, Burgas, Constanța, Giresun, Istanbul, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Odessa, Ordu, Poti, Rize, Samsun, Sevastopol, Sochi, Sukhumi, Trabzon, Varna, Yalta, and Zonguldak.

The black sea shares border with Ukraine,Romania,Bulgaria,Turkey, Georgia and Russia.The Black Sea has a positive water balance; that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 (72 cu mi) per year through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea. There is a two-way hydrological exchange: the more saline and therefore denser, but warmer, Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea under its less saline outflow. This creates a significant anoxic layer well below the surface waters. The Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Aegean Sea and various straits, and is navigable to the Atlantic Ocean. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected, to the North, to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

The water level has varied significantly. Due to these variations in the water level in the basin, the surrounding shelf and associated aprons have sometimes been land. At certain critical water levels it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established. It is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is an endorheic basin, operating independently of the global ocean system, like the Caspian Sea for example. Currently, the Black Sea water level is relatively high; thus, water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles.

Answer 67

The Black Sea

Question 68

(also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. To the north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion. The sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley.

The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km2 (169,100 mi2),[1][2] is about 2250 km (1398 mi) long and, at its widest point, 355 km (220.6 mi) wide. It has a maximum depth of 3,040 m (9,970 ft) in the central Suakin Trough,[3] and an average depth of 490 m (1,608 ft). However, there are also extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals. The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species, and 200 soft and hard corals. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea.

Answer 68

The Red Sea

Question 69

is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of the internal waters of Russia.[3] Administratively, it is divided between Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblasts and the Republic of Karelia.

The major port of Arkhangelsk is located on the White Sea. For much of Russia’s history this was Russia’s main centre of international maritime trade, conducted by the Pomors (“seaside settlers”) from Kholmogory. In the modern era it became an important Soviet naval and submarine base. The White Sea–Baltic Canal connects the White Sea with the Baltic Sea.

The White Sea is one of the four seas named in English after common colour terms — the others being the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Yellow Sea.

Answer 69

The White Sea

Question 70

The Bohai Sea or Bo Sea, also known as Bohai Gulf, Bo Gulf or Pohai Bay (Chinese: 渤海; literally: ‘Bo Sea’), is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea and the Korea Bay on the coast of Northeastern and North China. It is approximately 78,000 km2 (30,000 sq mi) in area. Its proximity to Beijing makes it one of the busiest seaways in the world.

Answer 70

Bohai Sea

Question 71

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. The East China Sea is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of roughly 1,249,000 square kilometres (482,000 sq mi). To the east lies the Japanese island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands, to the south, lies the South China Sea, and to the west by the Asian continent. The sea connects with the Sea of Japan (East Sea) through the Korea Strait and opens to the north into the Yellow Sea. The countries which border the sea include Japan, Taiwan and China.

Answer 71

The East China Sea

Question 72

is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Karimata and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi). The sea carries tremendous strategic importance; one-third of the world’s shipping passes through it, carrying over $3 trillion in trade each year,[1] it contains lucrative fisheries, which are crucial for the food security of millions in Southeast Asia. Huge oil and gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed.[2]

According to International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition (1953), it is located[3]

south of China;
east of Vietnam;
west of the Philippines;
east of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, up to the Strait of Singapore in the western, and
north of the Bangka Belitung Islands and Borneo
However, in its unapproved draft 4th edition (1986),[4] IHO proposed the Natuna Sea, thus the South China Sea southern boundary was shifted northward, from north of the Bangka Belitung Islands to

north and northeast of Natuna Islands.[5]
The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

Answer 72

The South China Sea

Question 73

is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. The prairie of North America (especially the shortgrass and mixed prairie) is an example of a steppe, though it is not usually called such. A steppe may be semi-arid or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude. The term is also used to denote the climate encountered in regions too dry to support a forest but not dry enough to be a desert. The soil is typically of chernozem type.

Steppes are usually characterized by a semi-arid or continental climate. Extremes can be recorded in the summer of up to 45 °C (113 °F) and in winter, −55 °C (−67 °F). Besides this huge difference between summer and winter, the differences between day and night are also very great. In both the highlands of Mongolia and northern Nevada, 30 °C (86 °F) can be reached during the day with sub-zero °C (sub 32 °F) readings at night.

Steppe in Russia
The mid-latitude steppes can be summarized by hot summers and cold winters, averaging 250–510 mm (10–20 in) of precipitation per year. Precipitation level alone is not what defines a steppe climate; potential evapotranspiration must also be taken into account.

Answer 73

Steppe

Question 74

is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. It is the world’s twelfth longest river[2] and the seventh longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi),[2] and it drains an area of 795,000 km2 (307,000 sq mi), discharging 475 km3 (114 cu mi) of water annually.[3] From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China’s Yunnan Province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to manage and coordinate use of the Mekong’s resources. In 1996 China and Myanmar became “dialogue partners” of the MRC and the six countries now work together in a cooperative framework.

The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in the Mekong make navigation difficult. Even so, the river is a major trade route between western China and Southeast Asia.

Answer 74

The Mekong River

Question 75

is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, and is the longest river in Africa and the disputed longest river in the world[2][3] (Brazilian government claims that the Amazon River is longer than the Nile).[4][5] The Nile, which is about 6,650 km (4,130 mi)[n 1] long, is an “international” river as its drainage basin covers eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan and Egypt.[7] In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.[8]

The river Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia[9] and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.[10]

The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, and nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along river banks.

Answer 75

The Nile

Question 76

in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and by some definitions it is the longest.[2][6][n 2]

The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century as the Amazon’s most distant source, until a 2014 study found it to be the headwaters of the Mantaro River on the Cordillera Rumi Cruz in Peru.[12] The Mantaro and Apurímac join, and with other tributaries form the Ucayali River, which in turn meets the Marañón River upstream of Iquitos, Peru, to form what countries other than Brazil consider to be the main stem of the Amazon. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro[13] to form what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters (Portuguese: Encontro das Águas) at Manaus, the river’s largest city.

At an average discharge of about 209,000 cubic metres per second (7,400,000 cu ft/s; 209,000,000 L/s; 55,000,000 USgal/s)—approximately 6,591 cubic kilometres per annum (1,581 cu mi/a), greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined—the Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean.[14] The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7,050,000 square kilometres (2,720,000 sq mi). The portion of the river’s drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river’s basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river.[15][16]

Answer 76

The Amazon River

Question 77

r is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system.[14][15] Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km)[15] to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi’s watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains.[16] The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth-longest and fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.[17][18]

Native Americans have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for thousands of years. Most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the native way of life as first explorers, then settlers, ventured into the basin in increasing numbers.[19] The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. In the 19th century, during the height of the ideology of manifest destiny, the Mississippi and several western tributaries, most notably the Missouri, formed pathways for the western expansion of the United States.

Formed from thick layers of the river’s silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile regions of the United States; steamboats were widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to ship agricultural and industrial goods. During the American Civil War, the Mississippi’s capture by Union forces marked a turning point towards victory, due to the river’s strategic importance to the Confederate war effort. Because of substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and barges that replaced steamboats, the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive engineering works such as levees, locks and dams, often built in combination. A major focus of this work has been to prevent the lower Mississippi from shifting into the channel of the Atchafalaya River and bypassing New Orleans.

Since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has also experienced major pollution and environmental problems – most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff, the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

Answer 77

Mississippi

Question 78

is the longest river in North America.[13] Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km)[9] before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river drains a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Although nominally considered a tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri River above the confluence is much longer[14] and carries a comparable volume of water.[10][15] When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world’s fourth longest river system.[13]

For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous bison herds that roamed through the Great Plains. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.

The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 19th century laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats that entered service on the river. Settlers took over former Native American lands in the watershed, leading to some of the most longstanding and violent wars against indigenous peoples in American history.

During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by almost 200 miles (320 km) from pre-development times. Although the lower Missouri valley is now a populous and highly productive agricultural and industrial region, heavy development has taken its toll on wildlife and fish populations as well as water quality.

Answer 78

Missouri River

Question 79

formerly known as the Zaire River under the Mobutu regime, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge volume, following only the Amazon. It is also the world’s deepest recorded river, with measured depths in excess of 220 m (720 ft).[2] The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,920 mi), which makes it the world’s ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km (1,120 mi).

Measured along with the Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,715 mi). It is the only river to cross the equator twice.[3] The Congo Basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass.

Answer 79

The Congo River

Question 80

is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is 1,390,000 square kilometres (540,000 sq mi),[1][2] slightly less than half of the Nile’s. The 2,574-kilometre-long river (1,599 mi) rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola, along the north-eastern border of Namibia and the northern border of Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean.

The Zambezi’s most noted feature is Victoria Falls. Other notable falls include the Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye Falls, near Sioma in Western Zambia.

There are two main sources of hydroelectric power on the river, the Kariba Dam, which provides power to Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique, which provides power to Mozambique and South Africa. There are additional two smaller power stations along the Zambezi River in Zambia, one at Victoria Falls and the other one near Kalene Hill in Ikelenge District.

Answer 80

The Zambezi

Question 81

is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation,[1] but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea.[2][3] Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is sometimes incorrectly used for locally heavy but short-term rains,[4] although these rains meet the dictionary definition of monsoon.[5]

The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African and Asia-Australian monsoons. The inclusion of the North and South American monsoons with incomplete wind reversal has been debated.[6]

The term was first used in English in British India and neighbouring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area.[7][8]

Answer 81

Monsoon

Question 82

native to south central China.[1] It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name “giant panda” is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet.[6] Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.[7][8]

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, but also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu.[9] As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The giant panda is a conservation-reliant vulnerable species.[10][11] A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.[12] As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries.[13] Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,[12] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.[14] Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise.[15] In March 2015, conservation news site Mongabay stated that the wild giant panda population had increased by 268, or 16.8%, to 1,864.[16] In 2016, the IUCN reclassified the species from “endangered” to “vulnerable”.[11]

While the dragon has often served as China’s national symbol, internationally the giant panda has often filled this role. As such, it is becoming widely used within China in international contexts, for example, appearing since 1982 on gold panda bullion coins and as one of the five Fuwa mascots of the Beijing Olympics.

Answer 82

Giant Panda

Question 83

are evergreen perennial flowering plants in the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. The word “bamboo” comes from the Kannada term bambu (ಬಂಬು), which was introduced to English through Indonesian and Malay.[3]

In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.[4]

Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world,[5] due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 91 cm (36 in) within a 24-hour period, at a rate of almost 4 cm (1.6 in) an hour (a growth around 1 mm every 90 seconds, or 1 inch every 40 minutes).[6] Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family.

Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product. Bamboo has a higher specific compressive strength than wood, brick or concrete, and a specific tensile strength that rivals steel.[7][8]

Answer 83

Bamboo

Question 84

China considers ______ to be its 23rd province, although _____ is governed by the Republic of China, which rejects the PRC’s claim

Answer 84

Taiwan