China: the Silk Road and the Tang

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 54 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗

Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a road». What is wiser?

1. One long stone road that China built alone across the deserts to Rome — ← Mova's choice · score 12
2. A web of routes, with China at one end and many peoples trading — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. One road the Romans built — score 6
4. A railway — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 12, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 54, line 1: «Mei says China built the Silk Road and only silk went along it. The teacher calls it «a road». Both miss something: it was a web of land and sea routes with Ch…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «build» (+5); the same doer «china» (+4); the same thing acted on «silk road» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

Mei says only silk went west. What would she find in the merchants' bags?

1. Paper, porcelain and tea too, and goods coming back east — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Only pandas — no support
3. Only gold — no support
4. Only silk, nothing else at all, packed in bales on the camels — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

The teacher says Buddhism is Indian, Mei says Chinese. Who is right?

1. Only Mei, because it first began in China under the Tang — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. Both: Indian in origin, Chinese in many later forms — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Only the teacher — no support
4. Neither; it began in Rome — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 53, line 1: «Mei says China gave the world paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder, the «four great inventions». This time the teacher agrees completely: all four were f…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «china» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · right ✓

lol mei swears the monkey king walked to india for real. did he?

1. The monk Xuanzang did; the Monkey King is from a novel — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. No, nobody went to India — no support
3. The Monkey King was an emperor — no support
4. Yes, the Monkey King was real, and his footprints are still in India — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Mei says the Tang was the richest country on Earth. What is safer to say?

1. The only rich country ever — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. One of the great powers; Chang'an was among the largest cities — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. A small poor village — no support
4. Richer than all the other countries of the world put together, by far — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · right ✓

Mei says Li Bai drowned hugging the Moon. What should she add?

1. He lived on the Moon — no support
2. It is a legend; he probably died of illness — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
3. He never wrote poems — no support
4. It is proven by police reports from the river — no support

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 2 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 12: «A legend says Li Bai drowned reaching for the Moon's reflection, but he probably died of illness.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same circumstance (+4); the same action «die» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

If diseases also travelled along the Silk Road, what does that tell us?

1. Traders never got ill — no support
2. Germs cannot travel — no support
3. Trade routes carry germs as well as goods — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Only silk can travel — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 10, line 3: «Silk, spices and ideas travelled along the Silk Road, which was not one road but a web of routes across deserts and mountains, walked by camel caravans resting…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «travel» (+3); the same doer «silk» (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · right ✓

Mei says Wu Zetian was the only woman who ruled China. What is the exact version?

1. The only woman to rule as emperor in her own name — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. No woman ever had power — score 4
3. Cixi had the same title — no support
4. Many women had that title, both before and after her time — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 54, line 13: «Wu Zetian ruled as emperor in her own name from 690 to 705, the only woman to do so; later, Empress Dowager Cixi held great power without the title.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same place «own name» (+3); the same action «rule» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · right ✓

The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact. Mei read some doubts. What is wise?

1. It is proven beyond doubt — no support
2. Paper came from Samarkand to China — no support
3. Tell it as a story; paper probably arrived earlier — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. It never happened, there was no battle — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 3, line 17: «Many peoples tell flood stories, and the rivers of Mesopotamia really did flood badly.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «tell» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

«everyone in asia eats with chopsticks» says Mei. who'd correct her?

1. Nobody; she is right — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. A penguin — no support
3. A Roman — no support
4. Someone from Thailand or India — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 52, line 3: «Mei also says the Great Wall is one wall you can see from space. Imagine a hair stretched across a football pitch: very long, too thin to see from far away. Th…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same doer «mei» (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Mei claims China invented chess. What should she proudly claim instead?

1. Football — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Cards — no support
3. Go, which is clearly Chinese — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Snakes and ladders — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Silk Road?

1. A network of overland and maritime routes, traversed by merchants of numerous peoples — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. A canal linking Beijing with Rome — no support
3. A route reserved exclusively for the trade in silk and forbidden to all other merchandise — no support
4. A single paved highway constructed by the Tang — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 1: «Mei says China built the Silk Road and only silk went along it. The teacher calls it «a road». Both miss something: it was a web of land and sea routes with Ch…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «merchants» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the religion that, originating in India, was transmitted into China by way of the Silk Road.

1. Philosophical Daoism — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Shinto of Japan — no support
3. Confucianism — no support
4. Buddhism — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning Wu Zetian.

1. She held power without the imperial title — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. She founded the Han dynasty — no support
3. She commanded the voyages to Africa — no support
4. She alone among women ruled as emperor in her own name — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the consequence for the Tang dynasty of the rebellion commenced by An Lushan in 755.

1. An immediate and lasting increase in the prosperity of the empire — no support
2. The unification of China under the Qin — no support
3. A grave decline from which the dynasty never fully recovered — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. The transfer of the capital to Rome — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 14: «The An Lushan rebellion, 755–763, devastated the Tang; the counted population fell sharply, and the dynasty never fully recovered.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «recover» (+5); the same property (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang/