"In the past, at the end of the Han, Tang, Yuan, and Mind dynasties, bands of rebels were innumerable, all because of foolish rulers and misgovernment, so that none of these rebellions could be stamped out. But today [the emperor] is deeply concerned and examines his character in order to reform himself, worships Heaven, and is sympathetic to the people. He has not increased the land tax, nor has he conscripted soldiers from households. . . . It does not require any great wisdom to see that sooner or later the [Taiping] bandits will all be destroyed."
Zeng Guofan, Qing dynasty official, proclamation against the Taiping rebels, 1854
In the passage above, Zeng Guofan's purposing in listing the policies of the current Qing emperor is most likely to
a) demonstrate the similarity between the damage done by the Taiping rebellion to the Qing Empire and the damage done by earlier rebellions to other Chinese dynasties
b) mobilize popular support by showing that the Taiping rebellion does not represent a legitimate challenge to Qing rule
c) warn that the Qing policies of keeping taxes low and avoiding conscription might come to an end if the Taiping rebellion succeeds
d) argue that the emperor's personal piety and benevolent rule prove that he accepts the validity of the Taiping rebel's grievances
Answer: B.
World History
- Which of the following was a major similarity between the goals of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Revolution, such as Mao Zedong, and the goals of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution, such as Emiliano Zapata, in the early twentieth century?
- Which of the following statements best represents a nationalistic interpretation of the collapse of the Ottoman and Russian empires during and immediately after the First World War?
- What was the leading cause of the unprecedented increase in global population in the twentieth century?
- A historian researching the effects of Christian missionaries' activities on local social structures in late nineteenth century Africa would probably find which of the following sources most useful?
- The United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen reflect a shared concern for
- Most world historians would agree that the key to European predominance in the world economy during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was
- The African proverb, "Until the lions have their historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter," conveys which of the following?
- Which of the following was a major difference between the social structures of China and India between 600 B.C.E. and 600 C.E.?
- The expansion of communication and trade networks in Afro-Eurasia from 600 C.E. to 1450 C.E. resulted in the spread of which of the following from South Asia?
- In contrast to initial industrialization, the second Industrial Revolution in the last half of the nineteenth century was particularly associated with the mass production of which of the following?
- Which of the following statements is true about both the Mughal and Ottoman empires in the sixteenth century?
- Historians argue that the twentieth century marks a significant break in world history for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
- The founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is best understood in the context of which of the following?
- The North and South American independence movements of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries shared which of the following?
- Which of the following would be the most useful source of evidence for research about the profits of Portuguese and British slave traders in the period 1600-1800?
- Which of the following factors represents the most significant cause of the growth of cities in Afro-Eurasian in the period 1000-1450?
- Before 600 C.E., large centralized empires, such as the Han, Persian, and Roman empires, extended their military power by
- The development of Indian Ocean trade routes in the period 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. and the development of transatlantic trade routes in the period 1450 C.E to 1600 C.E. were similar in that they both depended on
- Which of the following best explains why myths are useful to historians?
- Which of the following statements is true about the world at the end of the twentieth century?
- Nationalist leaders in Africa and Asia, such as Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978), and Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), had which of the following in common?
- After the Second World War, countries around the world did which of the following to restore the global economy?
- Which of the following best describes how nineteenth-century European industrialization affected European women's lives?
- Which of the following was a widespread social consequence of industrialization in the 1800s?
- An important reason for China's rapid population increase in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was