2015 Academic Year Secondary Examination: World History (NTCIR12 QALab-2 task's Sample Questions)

The following statement is Article 20 of the Constitution of Japan. Article 20. 1. Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. 2. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. 3. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity. The concept of separation of church and state, as expressed in that article, gradually began to prevail in a number of nations from the second half of the 18th century, following the popular revolutions in the United States and France.

Since ancient times, many tribes, armies, and travelers have migrated, rushed, and travelled across Eurasia, from east to west and from west to east. Alexander the Great (1) marched all the way to the Indus River . During the Later Han era Gan Ying, dispatched to the Kingdom of Daqin by Ban Chao of the Protectorate of the Western Regions, reached the coast of the Mediterranean (or the Persian Gulf). The Huns, believed by some to be migrating Xiongnu, advanced from central Asia to eastern Europe, and, in the same way, the Avars advanced from central Asia to western Europe.
(2)Many Chinese monks traveled to India through central Asia in search of Buddhist texts. The Göktürks built a massive nomadic empire that controlled the grasslands to the Volga River, reaching the border of Sasanian Persia. Around this time, China engaged in flourishing trade with western countries, and (3)Nestorianism, (4)Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism came into China.
The Mongols established the Mongol Empire, controlling the majority of Eurasia. After the breakup of the Mongol Empire, the Chagatai Khanate was established in central Asia, and the (5)Kipchak Khanate was established in the lower plains of the Volga River. Timur took advantage of chaos in the Chagatai Khanate to found the Timur Dynasty, moving west and defeating the Ottoman military. The Ottoman Dynasty moved into the Balkans, controlling the lower Danube River, and even (6)surrounded Vienna. Russia, after escaping from Mongol control, crossed the Urals (7)into Siberia, reaching the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific Ocean, and (8)its territory bordered the Qing Empire.

Looking back on the history of the eastern Eurasian continent, (1)it could be said that the 3rd century BC was a pivotal point in history at which nations successively emerged in the northern and southern regions of the continent. Those nations were based on different ways of living: either nomadic or agricultural. The Xiongnu, a nomadic nation, were located on the steppe that extended from the northern foot of the (A) Mountains to the Mongolian Plateau, whereas the Qin and the Han were located around the agricultural area in the Huangtu region. The historical framework for what followed in eastern Eurasia was created in the 3rd century BC, when all of those nations coexisted in the northern and southern parts of the continent.
The Xiongnu developed into a major nomadic empire in the 3rd century BC. Under the leadership of (B) Chanyu, they won an overwhelming victory over the Han army led by (C) , or Emperor Gaozu of Han, and gained the advantage in diplomatic relations with the Han. However, the conflict between the Xiongnu and the Han was eased due to a counter-attack by Emperor Wu of the Han against the Xiongnu in the second half of the 2nd century BC and the reconciliation that followed Emperor Wu's demise.
Nevertheless, the coexistence of nomadic states in the north and agricultural states in the south, started to become unbalanced. (2)A civil war was initiated by members of the Xi Jin royal family at the end of the 3rd century. In 316, the Xiongnu took the opportunity to destroy the Xi Jin, who had established their capital at (D) (for the first time since the Later Han Dynasty) at the time that the nation was created. That defeat opened the way for successive incursions by nomads into Northern China and marked the start of a turbulent period during which a number of nations would be established. That era, called the 'Period of Sixteen Kingdoms,' was terminated in 439 by the reunification of Northern China, which was accomplished by the Northern Wei, a nation founded by the (E) clan of the nomadic people of Xianbei. In contrast to the birth of a nation with powerful cavalry brigades in Northern China, (3)the Han people, who had fled to the Southern Yangtze area, founded the Southern Dynasty nations to confront the nomadic governments of the Northern Dynasties.
That era of Southern and Northern Dynasties came to a close at the end of the 6th century, when the Sui, based in Northern China, destroyed (F) , which was the last Southern Dynasty. The Tang followed the Sui to become a nation with an unprecedentedly vast territory incorporating both nomadic and agricultural areas, in the early 7th century, by expanding control from the Mongolian Plateau up to the area around the Pamir Mountains during the breakup of (G) , which had become the strongest nomadic state after the Xiongnu.
However, (4)the An Lushan Rebellion, which broke out in the mid-8th century, drastically changed the political climate in eastern Eurasia and again allowed the nomads to invade the agricultural regions in Northern China. Then, with the fall of Tang in the early 10th century and the coronation of (H) , or Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang, (I) became the Kagan of Khitan in the early 10th century. In 936, (J) , a half-nomadic, half-agricultural area in Northern China was ceded to Khitan, giving rise to yet another confrontation in eastern Eurasia between strong nomadic nations in the north and agricultural nations in the south. That confrontation gave way to the relationship between the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchen people and the Southern Song from the 12th through 13th centuries, reproducing the Period of Southern and Northern Dynasties: nomadic non-Han nations in Northern China, and Han nations in the agricultural Southern Yangtze area. (5)That historical experience of north-south coexistence and confrontation, stretching over a period of more than 1000 years still has a significant influence on current political, economic, and cultural conditions on the Chinese continent.

1 The Maurya Empire①, said to be the first unified empire in Indian history, reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Ashoka. After his death, India went through a period of fragmentation, but eventually the Kushan Empire was formed, centered in northwestern India, reaching its peak under Emperor Kanishka in the mid-2nd century②. In the early 4th century the Gupta Empire was formed in the Magadha area. It expelled the remnants of the weakened Kushan Empire, controlling all of northern India and extending its power into southern India as well. The classical culture of India③ culminated under this empire, and the native religions of India fused with Brahmanism, becoming Hinduism, which exerted a profound influence on peoples' lives. Buddhism gradually lost influence in the face of these events, but it is notable that with the construction of Nalanda University④ by ( 1 ) , the university became a center for the study of Buddhist doctrine, and purely Indian Buddhist art was established. After the fall of the Gupta Empire, in the early 7th century Harsha Vardhana created the Vardhana Empire, with its royal capital in A , unifying northern India, but when the king died, India once again entered a long period of division.

2 In 1876 when Japan, which had signed the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, moved into the Kingdom of Joseon⑤, the tension between progressives and conservatives within Joseon grew, and there was financial chaos. In the 1880s there were two political changes⑥ in the capital, Hanyang. Conflict between Japan and China regarding Joseon intensified, and 1894 the Donghak Revolution (Gabo Peasant Revolution) triggered the First Sino-Japanese War. The defeated Qing withdrew from Joseon, but the Tripartite Intervention⑦ led to Joseon, which had close relations with Russia, establishing a pro-Russia administration. In 1897 Joseon's position as a vassal state to the Qing was ended, and the name of the Kingdom of Joseon was changed to the Korean Empire.
In 1905 Japan, winner of the Russo-Japanese War, drove out the Russian forces, installed a Resident-General, and strengthened its hold. In response, the Korean Emperor⑧ sent delegates to the Hague Peace Conference of 1907 to complain of Japanese interference, but their pleas were not accepted, and instead Japan used this as an opportunity to remove the Emperor and strengthen their hold on Korea. In 1909 Ito Hirobumi visited ( 2 ) to improve Japan-Russia relations and was assassinated by a Korean nationalist. In 1910, the next year, Japan annexed Korea, renamed Hanyang B , and installed the Governor-General of Korea.

AThe fact that since ancient times maps of very high precision were created in China was demonstrated by the (1)silk maps found in tombs from the 2nd century BC, excavated in 1973 in Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan province. Descriptions of maps in literature are certainly few. The "Guanzi", considered to be written by politician Guan Zhong, who served under a , the first of the Five Hegemons, contains a "maps" section, which highlights the military importance of maps. In addition, in the "Zhan Guo Ce", it was written that when Su Qin urged a policy of alliance with the Prince of Zhao, he emphasized, (2)after discussing the geographical features of the Zhao state, that the territories of the feudal lords were five times the size of those of the Qin, based on a "map of the world." This mention of maps is exceptional, however. The military usefulness of maps would be particularly stressed in the age of rival warlords, but no detailed descriptions of how maps were drawn or utilized are to be found.
It is reported that the maps possessed by the Qin, who "unified the world," were seized when the army of Liu Bang occupied the Qin capital of b . When he compiled the Treatise on Geography in the "Book of Han" c was able to refer to these maps. However, when Pei Xiu of the Jin Dynasty was creating maps by comparing the descriptions of the "Tribute of Yu", of the d , one of the Five Classics, with the place names of the Jin era, the Qin maps could no longer be seen. In the case of Han era maps too, it is difficult to draw any detailed cartographic information from the literature. For example, the "topographic maps" created by Zhang Heng, the author of the (3)"Eastern Metropolis Rhapsody," are mentioned in the (4)"ancient pictures and rare drawings" section of the "Record of Famous Painters of All the Dynasties" along with the maps of Pei Xiu, but it is not known what kind of maps they were. In this sense, the discovery of the maps at Mawangdui, which show what maps of the Han era actually looked like, was an unprecedented event.
As also made clear by the fact that the work of Pei Xiu correlates with the "Tribute of Yu", the descriptions in the "Tribute of Yu" of the tribute offered to Yu the Great in Xia and of the mountains and rivers of different areas, along with the geography-related descriptions in (5)the "Rites of Zhou", which presents an idealistic depiction of Zhou era systems, had a great influence on the geographical sense of Chinese people, and these texts have continued to be much studied through the ages. (6)Cheng Dachang's "Yugong Lun" and "Yugong Shanchuan Dili Tu " written in the latter half of the 12th century and the "Yugong Zhuizhi" presented by Hu Wei to the Emperor e who made an imperial tour of Jiangnan in 1705, are typical examples. Also, the "Clan Responsibilities" in the "Rites of Zhou" defined the duty of "managing the map of the world, " and in later generations this name has been carried by the bureaus in charge of maps. In (7)"Chronicle of Foreign Lands" (completed in 1623), a book of world geography written by the Jesuit Giulio Aleni, who was active in China, shows that the book was dealing with the areas outside of those covered by the Clan Responsibilities. It could be said that the traditional geographical outlook of Chinese intellectuals was shaped by these descriptions in the "Tribute of Yu" and "Clan Responsibilities" and by the geography book f , written by Li Daoyuan in the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties.

A , which had advanced into the east Mediterranean in the 11th century, threatened the Byzantine Empire, and the Byzantine emperor sought aid from the Roman Pope. In 1095 the pope B held a council in (1)Clermont, where he proposed the Crusades, to enthusiastic support. The First Crusade was launched in 1096 and founded the Kingdom of (2)Jerusalem in 1099. However, the Fourth Crusade, started by Pope C in 1202, pressed by the demands of (3)Venetian merchants, occupied (4)Constantinople and built D , completely failing its original objective of reclaiming the Holy Land.
The unorthodox E , which had spread through southern France in the 13th century, were wiped out during the reign of French king F . This resulted in royal authority extending into southern France. In the early 14th century French king G moved the Holy See to (5)Avignon, where it lay under French control for approximately 70 years. In order to rein in the chaos of the Western Schism, the Council of (6)Constance was held in 1414. This council had H burned at the stake as a heretic.
Criticism of the Catholic church, which arose from around the 14th century, resulted in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. The 95 Theses of Luther, professor of theology at the University of (7)Wittenberg, had a tremendous impact throughout Germany. I , influenced by this Lutheran thought, led a peasant war, and was executed. In Switzerland, J led the Protestant Reformation in Zurich, and Calvin led the Protestant Reformation in (8)Geneva. In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic church held a council in (9)Trent in 1545, engaging in internal reforms.

In February 1972 United States of America (1)president Nixon landed at Beijing Airport under clear skies. Efforts to improve relations between the US and China (2)later resulted in the normalization of diplomatic relations between the countries, but behind that normalization lay the issue of (3)the risk of war between China and the USSR.
(4)Ever since the Opium Wars in the first half of the 19th century, (5)many unequal treaties had been forced on modern China as a result of the advances of the Western powers. The strong stance of the Qing Dynasty, which had (6)bluntly repudiated the trading improvement requests of a British foreign diplomat visiting China at the end of the 18th century, was no longer anywhere to be seen. China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War at the end of the 19th century signaled the end to (7)the pre-modern China-centered international order of East Asia.

1840 (1)Opium War (-1842)
1842 Treaty of Nanking
1844 Treaty of Wanghia and Treaty of Whampoa
1851 Taiping Rebellion (-1864)
1860 (2)Convention of Peking
1884 Sino-French War (-1885)
1894 First Sino-Japanese War (-1895)
1898 (3)Coup of 1898
1900 (4)Boxer Rebellion (-1901)
1905 (5)Foundation of the Chinese United League
1911 Xinhai Revolution
1912 Establishment of the Republic of China
1915 (6)Twenty-one Demands
1919 May Fourth Movement
1921 (7)Foundation of the Communist Party of China
1924 First United Front
1927 Dissolution of United Front
1931 Manchurian Incident
1932 Shanghai Incident
1934 (8)Start of the Long March (-1936)
1936 Xian Incident
1937 (9)Second United Front
Nanking Massacre
1949 (10)Establishment of the People's Republic of China