Chinese Government Trivia

1. Which members of the Chinese government charged the Gang of Four?

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng

Deng Xiaoping was the former Vice Premier of China, and Hua Guofeng was the current Chairman of China.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Changsha Teachers School

Mao was born in 1893 in Shaoshan, Hunan Province. In 1913, at the age of 20 Mao left his hometown and went to Changsha to study at the Changsha Teacher's School. There, he met some leftist thinkers, such as a certain Professor Yang, and began to study Marxist theory. Mao finished studies in 1918 and went to Beijing.

From Quiz Mao Zedong and His Revolution

Answer: Hunan

His family were prosperous peasants who resided in Hunan province. Hunan is a southern province (its name means 'south of the lake') that is not far from Shanghai.

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: cultural revolution & great proletarian cultural revolution

From Quiz China Girl

Answer: Li Zhi

Wu Zetian was a concubine of Emperor Taizong ultimately marrying his son Emperor Gaozong in 655. As Gaozong was inexperienced at the time he became emperor and often afflicted with illness and dizziness, Wu Zetian found herself making decisions on his behalf. When Gaozong died in 683 Wu became the empress dowager and eventually a regent. Like many other empresses, she was often feared and using cruel measures during her reign implementing a secret police force and killing or imprisoning anyone that might stand in her way. On the other hand, she was often seen as fair to peasants by lowering taxes in the empire and improving agricultural production. She was also responsible for declaring Buddhism as the favored religion in the empire. In 705, she was pressured to give up her role as leader due to her constant superstition and fear and eventually died peacefully in December of the same year.

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Chou En-Lai

Chou En-Lai was the Premier of China who at times cooperated with the Gang of Four.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Yang Kaihui

Mao married first with Yang Kaihui, daughter of Professor Yang, the person who introduced Mao to socialist theory in the Changsha Teacher's School. Yang was killed in 1927 by the Nationalists in a Shanghai massacre against the Communists. The other two wives were He Zhizhe, a guerilla woman, and Jiang Qing, an actress who joined the Communists in Yan'an in the 30s. Jiang was the last of Mao's wives and became a powerful leader in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

From Quiz Mao Zedong and His Revolution

Answer: Assistant librarian

It was at the library that Mao met Chen Duxiu, a Marxist and founding member of the Communist Party.

From Quiz China Girl

Answer: Xiang Jingyu

Xiang Jingyu was one of the first female members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), being accepted in 1922. She was highly educated, attending the Montargis Women's University in France. While there, she studied the works of Karl Marx and became concerned with both the conditions of China and the rest of the world. After accepting membership within the CPC, she attempted to establish relations with female factory workers in an attempt to fight for women's rights and eventual liberation. In 1927, she decided to work for the Propaganda Department in the Wuhan province, a dangerous occupation as known communists were being expelled from the region. In March 1928, she was arrested by the police as she was betrayed by the members of her group and was executed in May for her association with communism.

From Quiz China's Warlords

Answer: The Christian General

Feng Yuxiang (1882-1948) was baptized by Methodists in 1914. Rumor had it that he in turn baptized his troops with fire hoses, but hard evidence for this chestnut is lacking. Feng also had a reputation as a turncoat; it was his defection that led to Wu Peifu's defeat in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. Feng had rather better connections with the Chinese Communists and the USSR than most warlords did. He died under still not fully explained circumstances, in a fire that broke out aboard the ship on which he was traveling to the Soviet Union. Further reading: James E. Sheridan, "Chinese Warlord: The Career of Feng Yü-hsiang" (Stanford University Press, 1966).

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Edgar Snow

Edgar Snow traveled to China in the 30s to interview Mao for 'Life' magazine, and lived in Chin, becoming a national hero. Other Americans joined Mao at the same time, as did Canadian doctor Norman Bethune. Edgar Snow became not only the best source for the Yan'an period, but also one of the closest friends of Mao for the rest of the Great Helmsman's life.

From Quiz Mao Zedong and His Revolution

Answer: Autumn Harvest Uprisings

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Hua Guofeng

Hua Guofeng was chairman of the Chinese communist party during the two year period between the death of Mao and the rise to power of Deng Xiaoping.

From Quiz China's Warlords

Answer: His train was blown up by rogue Japanese officers

Zhang Zuolin (1875-1928) was the leader of the Fengtian Clique and dominated China's national government in Beijing for several years after he defeated Wu Peifu in 1924. Evicted from Beijing by the Nationalist (KMT) Northern Expedition in 1928, Zhang was assassinated by Japanese officers who hoped his death would provide a pretext for Japan to seize all of Manchuria. Further reading: Gavan McCormack, "Chang Tso-lin in Northeast China, 1911-1928" (Stanford University Press, 1977).

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Chen Boda and Mao Yuanxin

Mao Yuanxin was Mao's Zedong's nephew. He was given seventeen years in jail for supporting the Gang of Four. He is still alive, and resides in Chinese countryside.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Snake

For Chinese astrologers it is interesting that Mao was born on the year of snake in 1893 and died in the year of the Dragon in 1976. A snake is considered to be a "little dragon".

From Quiz Mao Zedong and His Revolution

Answer: Jiangxi

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Suicide

Jiang Qing was placed under house arrest and eventually committed suicide in prison in 1991.

From Quiz China Girl

Answer: Mao Zedong

Qing married the first Chairman of China, Mao Zedong, in November 1938 and is historically known as being the initial "First Lady" of the People's Republic of China. Her life in politics began when Mao became Chairman. During the 1950s, she was the director of Film in the Central Propaganda Department and eventually became a member of the Department of Culture. Following criticisms as a result of the Great Leap Forward, Mao gave Jiang the power to help persecute enemies of his regime, becoming a member of the "Gang of Four". Much of her political influence in China during the 1960s and 1970s was through the use of the arts; particularly opera and ballet. She established what became known as the "Eight Model Plays", revolutionary plays or operas sometimes viewed as "propaganda" in nature. After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Jiang along with the other members of the Gang of Four were arrested for treason and counter-revolutionary activity. Jiang was sentenced to death in 1981, but her sentence was overturned to life in prison in 1983. In 1991, she was transported to a hospital after being diagnosed with throat cancer and committed suicide by hanging herself in a hospital bathroom.

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Life sentence

Zhang Chunqiao and Jiang Qing were first given death sentences that then were commuted to life sentences.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: 4.

The early marriage, Yang Kaihui, He Zhizhe and Jiang Qing, as explained in question 2.

From Quiz Mao Zedong and His Revolution

Answer: Long March & The Long March

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Yao Wenyuan

From Quiz China Girl

Answer: Hu Yaobang

Shaofen was born to primary school teachers in August of 1930 and is believed to be a descendant of a defense minister from the Song dynasty. In 1952, she became a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and eventually befriended future Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang leading the Communist Youth League of China (CYL). During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, Hu Yaobang was purged twice by the Mao Zedong government and those associated with him could be arrested. Wao Shaofen would be arrested and persecuted for her association with Yaofeng being subject to physical abuse. In 1974, she would be politically reinstated and by 1988 was appointed as the deputy head of the United Front Work Department. She is historically known as being the very first female provincial chief in the history of China.

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: 1981

The trial was actually a show trial where the members were convicted of anti-party activities.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Zhu De and Zhou Enlai

Marshall Zhu De and Premier Zhou Enlai died the same year, 1976. People believe 1976 was an very significant year of the dragon as an entire dynasty passed away. This does not imply, however, that every year of the dragon implies a big change in political power. In astrology and mythology it is required also that great natural disasters occur during a significant dragon year, and in 1976 the Tangshan earthquake that killed 300,000 people was clearly such an event. It was a real year of the dragon!

From Quiz China Girl

Answer: Iron Lady of China

Wu Yi began her journey into politics in 1962 when she joined the Communist Party of China. She would spend a good portion of her working life as a petroleum technician after achieving a degree in petroleum engineering at the Beijing Petroleum Institute. It would not be until 1988 when she officially took a position in a political office, being elected the deputy mayor of Beijing. After the Tienanmen Square protests in 1989, she took a more active role in politics becoming both the Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation. During the SARS crisis of 2002-03, she became the Minister of Health after the firing of Zhang Wenkang (after he tried to cover up the crisis) and is most known for setting up a committee to try and solve the crisis.

From Quiz The Chinese Gang of Four

Answer: Designated successor of Mao Zedong

Lin Biao died in a plane crash in 1971 and was considered a traitor after his death.

From Quiz Mao Zedong's Life

Answer: Li Shuyi

Mao wrote the poem in 1957 to Li Shuyi. The poem began with a word play featuring the names of two women. The name of the first legitimate wife of Mao, Yang Kaihui, who was killed in 1927, can be translated as "Willow". The name of Li's wife can be translated as "Cypress". The poem (despite political connotations) is renowed as one of the best love poems in modern Chinese poetry and has been included in the recent anthologies both in China and abroad. Apart from poetry, Mao is considered also as one of the best modern Chinese calligraphers.

From Quiz China's Warlords

Answer: He kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in 1936

Zhang Xueliang (1901-2001) was the son of Zhang Zuolin. Ejected from the Northeastern provinces by Japanese invasion in 1931, he was eager to fight the Japanese instead of the Chinese Communists. His detention of Chiang Kai-shek at Xi'an in December 1936 precipitated the formation of a new United Front with Communists and Nationalists joining forces to resist the Japanese. But Zhang's success came at a price. He spent four decades under house arrest in Taiwan, though was eventually released, emigrated to the United States, and died in Honolulu.

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Last Updated Jul 05 2025 5:48 AM

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