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China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 56 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 the Forbidden City was built in one year. What did the teacher have right?

  • 1. It was never finished — ← Mova's choice · score 10
  • 2. It took from 1406 to 1420 — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. It took one week — no support
  • 4. One year is right — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 52, line 1: «Mei says the First Emperor was the greatest ruler ever; the teacher says he was a tyrant. In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang united China and made writing, coins, weights…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «teacher» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «tyrant» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

A tour guide repeats «9,999 rooms». What would Mei, who read the survey, say?

  • 1. A lovely legend; surveys count about 8,700 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 14
  • 2. It has 10,000 and one — score 5
  • 3. It has no rooms — score 10
  • 4. It is exactly true, every room has been counted — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 14, against 10 for the next best. Its support: lesson 56, line 1: «The Ming dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City, a palace of red walls and golden roofs. Mei says it has 9,999 r…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «surveys» (+5); the same action «count» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «8,700» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · right ✓

omg mei says china found america in 1421!! true?

  • 1. No evidence; Zheng He's farthest voyages reached East Africa — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. No, he went to the Moon — no support
  • 3. Yes, he founded New York — no support
  • 4. Yes, proven by old Chinese maps that show the coast of California — 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 4 · wrong ✗

What evidence would historians need to prove a Ming voyage to America?

  • 1. A strong feeling that it must be true, shared by many readers — no support
  • 2. A film — no support
  • 3. A popular book — ← Mova's choice · score 3
  • 4. Records, maps or remains found by archaeologists — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 56, line 9: «A 2002 popular book claimed Zheng He's fleets reached America in 1421; historians reject this because there is no evidence in Chinese records, maps or archaeol…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same doer «2002 popular book» (+2); the same property (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

Mei: «Africa sent a dragon to China!» What really arrived?

  • 1. A lion — ← Mova's choice · score 5
  • 2. A giraffe the court took for a qilin — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. An elephant — score 5
  • 4. A real dragon — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 22, line 10: «The scholar al-Khwarizmi wrote a famous book on solving equations; the word algebra comes from its title and the word algorithm comes from his name; an algorit…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come» (+4); the same place «name» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself». Too simple?

  • 1. The ships sank — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Yes; cost, opposition at court and the northern defence mattered — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. China never explored — no support
  • 4. No, that is the whole story, and nothing else at all needs to be said — 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 7 · wrong ✗

If you found a Ming bowl in Nan's attic, would it be worth millions?

  • 1. Only if it is broken — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. Probably not; only rare pieces are, many were made — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. It would be worthless whatever — no support
  • 4. Yes, every Ming piece is priceless — 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 8 · wrong ✗

Why did Spanish silver travel all the way to China?

  • 1. To pay Zheng He — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. To make coins for Rome — no support
  • 3. To buy silk and porcelain — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. To build the Wall — 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 9 · right ✓

Mei says the Ming fell only because of the Manchus. What happened first?

  • 1. Famine, rebellion and money troubles; Li Zicheng took Beijing — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. The British invaded with gunboats and soldiers from India — no support
  • 3. Nothing; the Ming are still ruling — no support
  • 4. The Mongols returned — 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 10 · right ✓

How could a European like Ricci be buried in Beijing with honour?

  • 1. He was a Ming admiral — no support
  • 2. He was the emperor's son — no support
  • 3. He learned Chinese well and was greatly respected — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
  • 4. He conquered China — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 15: «Saying Europeans discovered a land forgets the people who had lived there for thousands of years.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «discover» (+2); the same doer «europeans» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch. What is fairer?

  • 1. The Ming built no walls — ← Mova's choice · score 4
  • 2. Exactly right — no support
  • 3. The Qin built every part, and the Ming only painted it and put up flags — score 4
  • 4. They built the famous brick and stone parts; earlier walls existed — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 52, line 12: «The legend of Meng Jiangnu tells of a wife whose husband died building the wall, and whose weeping brought a section down; it shows how much the builders suffe…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «build» (+4); the same thing acted on «wall» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the period during which the voyages commanded by Zheng He were undertaken.

  • 1. From 1839 to 1842 — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. From 221 to 206 BC — no support
  • 3. From 1405 to 1433 — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. From 1492 to 1504 — 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 2 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the assertion that a Chinese fleet reached America in 1421.

  • 1. It is confirmed by Ming charts preserved in Beijing — no support
  • 2. It is rejected by historians for want of any evidence — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
  • 3. It is established by the giraffe of 1414 — no support
  • 4. It is attested by Columbus himself — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 56, line 9: «A 2002 popular book claimed Zheng He's fleets reached America in 1421; historians reject this because there is no evidence in Chinese records, maps or archaeol…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «historians» (+3); the same action «reject» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the principal reasons for the cessation of the Ming maritime expeditions after 1433.

  • 1. Their expense, opposition at court and the priority of northern defence — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. The exhaustion of all lands to be discovered — no support
  • 3. The death of every sailor at sea — no support
  • 4. The destruction of the entire fleet by the Portuguese navy in the Indian Ocean — 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 4 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the animal presented to the Ming court in 1414?

  • 1. A panda sent from Tibet — no support
  • 2. An elephant from Rome — no support
  • 3. A dragon captured in the Yellow River — no support
  • 4. A giraffe from Malindi, taken to be the auspicious qilin — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 56, line 10: «In 1414 a giraffe from Malindi, in today's Kenya, was brought to the Ming court, where people took it for a qilin, a lucky mythical beast, and painted it.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bring» (+4); the same thing acted on «giraffe» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/