Provinces of China

Can you please accept Canton for Guangdong?

It would be easier but quite misleanding while there are at least two places commonly called "Canton" - Guangzhou city and Guangdong province.

True, but as this quiz is about provinces, the confusion should be minimal.

you must be new to jetunk

I mean they're not new anymore considering you're responding to a 7 year old comment.

And have a higher level than yourself.

You mis-spelt "autonomous" - though I don't think those regions have much autonomy anyway

The average score is 19? Did this get posted on Baidu?

Now 18

Still 18

Still 18

Still 18

Still 18

I had 5 on my first go. Now after I've been playing the map quiz of Chinese provinces (2-3 days ago) I got 20/33. I will get them all.

If you know the words for the cardinal directions in Mandarin (dong = east, nan = south, xi = west, bei = north) you can get 19 easily simply by remembering to try the "opposite" direction. Everyone knows Hunan, so Hubei. Everyone knows Guangdong, so Guangxi, etc.

Thanks for the tip!

I mean a large majority of people in the English speaking world probably do not know Hunan and Guangdong...

@princeEric Probably because theres nowhere to go from Virginia. you can't go east of Virginia otherwise you'll get Atlantis 2.0

Love this quiz, but could you add Nei Mong(g)ol (Zizhiqu) as an accepted alternative?

Or NeiMongGu

Great quiz, good brain exercise, thanks!

I only got 26.... need to study up a little.

Wow... 6/33. I'm too American. I can name a bunch of cities, but not provinces. Here's the next one for me to master.

I only got about 6 the first time but when I looked at the results there were a bunch of others that I knew but had forgotten...

The fact that the map ends up red and yellow is kind of satisfying.

Mine is red and green.

Glitschko56, do you need to see an ophthalmologist?

Mine is green and purple

Its not a surprise to see regions like Tibet or Inner Mongolia being more recognized than other "Chinese" provinces because unlike those "provinces" these guys interact with the outside world, which makes it more known to foreigners. Hong Kong is worldwide known as British former controlled, and Macau was originally Portugues (Portuguese language in Portuguese) owned (so its also more known because its usually owned by a Western nation whom used to have a powerful and long empire) until the same time as Hong Kong's independence from Britain.

Also, I'm proud to discover that quite a lot knew my home province Sichuan

Official spelling is Sichuan, but ridiculous "romanisation" from Western world decided to make us look cool with a "z"

I think Sichuan is very famous for its mountains, pandas and increasingly popular cuisine, and that is why many people got it. It is a very good province, anyways. :)

I've been to Sichuan, and I loved it. Awesome place.

This might be the most well known province in Occident, due to Sichuan pepper or other condiments lol. It might also be because this was historically the most populated in all China, or because people remember that Chongqing was removed from it not so long ago. All in all, a lot of people know about the Four Rivers Province (at least here in France) and there's a chance that if you ask people to name a province, it would be the first answered besides Xizang.

Many of us in Germany read Bertolt Brecht's play "The Good Person of Sezuan" in school. Sezuan/Sichuan is supposed to be an allegory for all the places where people suffer. Brecht later added that the real Sichuan is not one of these places anymore since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The book is fine, but its author was a bit deluded.

Sichuan is very poor province. In the HDI it has only 0.716, which is lower than even African and poor Arab countries like Botswana or Jordan. Without Chengdu it would be at least 0.1 lower. The horrible climate makes it feel even worse. At least they are better than Tibet, who live the same as Myanmar (0.585).

Botswana isn’t poor Arab. In fact, it’s one of the best African countries in terms of quality of life and HDI.

@jhassasin There really is no official spelling because the name was written in Chinese characters so there are multiple pinyins. Kind of how Muscat and Musqat are the same thing but different spellings

Neither Hong Kong nor Macau gained 'independence'.

Romanisation occurred way before Pinyin was invented (thus the spelling 'Sichuan'). Pinyin was only introduced in the 1950s and 60s. In fact, I personally prefer the romanised spellings.

Pinyin is a mouthful of alphabet soup for English, French and Dutch. It just makes no sense. There is no true transfer of pronunciation from hardly any language to another. In China they don't pronounce New York and Paris the way you do. (And I'm betting every English speaker read "PAIR-iss", not paʁi like the native pronunciation.)

You just need word chart. All Chinese sounds are in English. Q is CH, ZH is J, X is SH, etc. The only Chinese sound not in english is the u with two dots. But even that is easy to learn.

I prefer using the English romanisation when speaking English

I took a Chinese class for one year in middle school. I don’t remember much of it, but I do remember some Pinyin pronunciations.

25/33 first try. never been there...

Only got Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Macau, Hongkong, Hainan.

The hell i care with Chinese Spellings...

Got only 3, I just know a few Chinese cities, but not provinces.

Why would it count Taiwan, Taiwan is a country not a Chinese province.

All though it is currently not a Chinese province due to the dispute it is most certainly not a country. Very few places including the UN do not recognize Taiwan as a country mainly due to the fact that it has always been a province of China. As soon as mainland China converts to a democracy Taiwan WILL be a province of China again.

It is definitely a country. Taiwan has its own border controls, government, political system, military, legal system, currency, foreign policy and so on. Only the most one eyed CCP supporter would claim that Taiwan is not a country.

Well said, Akula.

Hunan, Hainan, and Henan really mess me up.

Hu = Lake

Hai = Ocean

He = River

Could you make Hong Kong and Macau more visible somehow, for example by pointing arrows at them?

Ningxia, you dodge my mind!

I, for one, would like to welcome our new overlords.

Yeah, 33/33!

It is not East Turkestan. East Turkestan is a "part" of it.

I am still waiting for the Chinese badge.

Happy now?

I am still waiting for the Indian badge.

I am still waiting for the Russian Badge

maybe you could accept xianggang for hongkong... oh well, never mind, I actually just wanted to show off my incredible skills ;-)

Please accept Nei Menggu for Inner Mongolia and maybe East Turkestan for Xinjiang!

Got 12. Totally forgot about Hong Kong and Macau, for some reason.

yep, got a big fat 0, and I am not even talking about points haha. (though I could haven gotten the top 6 in hindsight) This is a subject I know nothing about, so I thought I would click it and see if some information will stick. (not too sure that will happen though, a bit verwhelming haha, especially since many look/sound similar to me, so no memory aids. Like for canada alberta allways make me think of a cow, so I remember it. If I can attach the word to something it is much easier to remember)

Well done not counting Taiwan as a "province" of the PRC!

Completely agree. Taiwan is an independent country in its own right.

I only missed 4 and got 3 points...

Bam full marks, one hour ago and I would’ve got around 10. I recommend this guys three videos they’re really helpful at learning the Chinese subdivisions (https://youtu.be/h-s48UjLC8Q)

I'm going to have to get much better at this if I want to get the China badge... only one I need but my top score is pitiable.

Please accept 香港 for hong kong

But that's Chinese

Where is Taiwan ._.

did he not say taiwan is not a 'province'

got 33/33

everyone now knows hubei lol

Hong Kong and Taiwan are not part of China. do not give into this authoritarian propaganda.

Incorrect. Hong Kong has not ever wanted to leave China. HK will be part of China till end of Earth. If everyone leave when things get tough, how will China get better? The HKers being in China is very useful for us mainlanders, because that means the CCP will get the bad publicity. If someone is killed in Singapore by government would you blame CCP? Of course not. Same thing, if Hong Kong becomes independent then CCP loses blame.

How is this Authoritarian Propaganda. By who? For what?

100%

Next day - 100%!

Can anyone explain why there is a province called Shaanxi right next to a province called Shanxi?

No, but at least it is easy to get an extra province by adding an 'A'.

Shanxi is west of mountain. Shaanxi is a term invented to differentiate them, it means west of pass.

Alright from what I understand it's because the difference that tone makes in Chinese.

The words Shǎn and Shān (in Pinyin, basically Chinese in English letters) have different meanings due to the different ways they should be pronounced.

To differentiate between them in English they decided to add another A to Shǎnxī.

I thought Hebei and Henan each had an extra "i"; "Heibei" and "Heinan"

"He" in Chinese is pronounced like "huh" in English, so definitely no i in it

I don't know why Jetpunk recognises Taiwan as an actual country. Only 17 countries fully recognise it (none of them important), and Taiwan still is not free from the chinese government. Why do you accept it?

Taking a neutral stance, Taiwan is functionally a country

What do you mean "Taiwan still is not free from the chinese government"? Taiwan has its own political and economic system, its own military and currency and handles foreign policy on its own. Unless by "Chinese Government" you mean "government of the Republic of China", then of course you would be correct.

None of that matters because Taiwan isn't recognised by any economically important country, nor the UN.

That doesn't matter in the slightest. Sovereignity is not a popularity contest.

Please, let's be real here: Taiwan has its own ruler and its own laws, but the fact is that China has control over the area, both physically and economically. It is somehow like Hong Kong, with both unique currencies and economies, but still in control of the chinese government.

And second of all, sovereignity is probably the most important thing to form a country: all JetPunk official countries have at least 90 other countries recognising it. Taiwan has 15, the most important (economically) of them being Guatemala, the 74th largest GDP in the world. And more important, the UN, the most important international organization.

Overall, except for some isolated countries and JetPunkers, nobody recognises it!

I'm not against the independence of the province, but currently, the fact is that Taiwan IS NOT a country.

Most countries and the UN didn't recognize the People's Republic until the 1970s. Do you think it was not a real country before that? Officially recognizing a country has much more to do with political alignments or interests, although in most cases it also reflects reality. It is more practical to have an official relationship with the PRC than with the ROC if you can't have both, that is all. Most countries maintain unofficial relations with and have de-facto embassies in Taiwan, including the US, France, and the UK. And I don't know where you heard that "China has control over the area, both physically and economically". If Taiwan has its own political system, its own laws, its own economic relations to foreign countries, and its own military, how can it not be in control of itself?

Unless by "area" you mean all of China. Or by "China", you mean the ROC. Despite the PRC's claim, it does not factually control Taiwan, and despite the ROC's claim, it does not factually control mainland China. That much should be clear. But if you think that the ROC is not actually in control of Taiwan, I would very much like to see your sources.

I'm not talking about de facto countries. There are plenty more areas around the world that have their own laws, political system and whatever, that could fit into the description of a country. But we're talking about OFFICIAL countries, because that's what JetPunk is about! Therefore, no, Taiwan is not an official country, since very few countries truly recognise it, and the UN also don't recognise it.

Second, yes, Taiwan has its own laws, its own political system and so, but let's just remind that, by far, its most important trading partner is still China, meaning that if the chinese government decided to cut their relations, that'd be it! But China doesn't consider it to be a problem, they have better things to do!

Third, let's remind that the Chinese army is about 20 times the size of the Taiwanese army. That means, if they ever decided to (officialy) declare independence, that'd also be it!

Finally, Taiwan is somehow free to make choices, but let's not ilude ourselves.

Got all but 3 this time. I'm learning, slowly but surely.

The videos of AdvChina/laowhy, especially this one, helped me with this quiz.

only got Hong Kong and Tibet

I was born in Chongqing. I got all of them!

"Xinjiang" is an illegitimate colonial name for occupied East Turkestan

No

Where's Taiw- I mean Chinese Taipei?

Only 12/33..time to master this.

Can you accept Nei Meng Gu Instead of Inner Mongolia?

Yeah, I always go to type that.

Nei Mongol works

only for the badge, never again but good quiz.

fun quiz finally put my china knowledge to use xdddd still can't spell to save my life :D

Add Taiwan Please

THANK YOU for not including Taiwan as part of China. The thing is, both my parents are Taiwanese immigrants and all my grandparents live in Taiwan. I've heard a lot of people consider Taiwan part of China just because Taiwan's official name is "Republic of China"??? That doesn't make sense.