Learning the Provinces of China (in Chinese)

[dawoniu]

Hi there,

 

I am learning Chinese for a few years now since I have visited the country before Corona times.

Another hobby of mine is making small quiz games about geography.

So I tried to combine both. The result is a quiz about the provinces of China and one about the provincial capitals:

 

The Provinces of China:

https://geographyquiz.app/quiz/china-provinces/27

Capitals of the Provinces:

https://geographyquiz.app/quiz/china-provincial-capitals/46

 

But as a Chinese learner I added the options to learn the places using Chinese character (simplified and traditional) and Pinyin! (change it via "Language")

 

Hope you like it!

 

[Demonic_Duck]

Nice quizzes, thanks for sharing!

 

Another idea — you could try making one for the single-character abbreviations (省份简称, e.g. 河北 → 冀).

[dawoniu]

On 6/24/2022 at 5:06 PM, Demonic_Duck said:

Nice quizzes, thanks for sharing!

 

Another idea — you could try making one for the single-character abbreviations (省份简称, e.g. 河北 → 冀).

 

Actually this is a fantastic idea, thank you! I will make a "Language" option for the single-character abbreviations!

[abcdefg]

For many years, I have used this software for learning the same thing. https://www.seterra.com . I'm glad to see yours has the ability to learn the material using Hanzi. That is an advantage. Thank you! 

[dawoniu]

On 6/24/2022 at 6:31 PM, abcdefg said:

I'm glad to see yours has the ability to learn the material using Hanzi.

Thanks, I included Hanzi support the major quiz games (countries, capitals, US-states etc.)

[dawoniu]

On 6/24/2022 at 5:06 PM, Demonic_Duck said:

Another idea — you could try making one for the single-character abbreviations (省份简称, e.g. 河北 → 冀).

 

I added single-character abbreviations support ? click on Language -> Abbreviations

[dawoniu]

One more small update. I added a geography quiz about the districts of Hong Kong:

https://geographyquiz.app/quiz/hong-kong/166

 

Like the one about provinces you can learn the districts of the city in English and Chinese.

[vellocet]

On 6/24/2022 at 5:32 PM, dawoniu said:

The Provinces of China:

Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong, etc. are not provinces. ?

 

You forgot Taiwan. ?

 

Otherwise nice little quiz.  

[889]

Neither is Guangxi etc.

 

Fussy people deal with this by using "provincial-level."

 

[dawoniu]

On 7/21/2022 at 12:21 AM, 889 said:

Fussy people deal with this by using "provincial-level."

? yes or "administrative divisions" ?

I think I'll leave the title as simple as it is.

In the quiz description it is outlined in more detail.

[dawoniu]

After a longer time, I turned my attention back to China for my geography 🗺️ project.

 

I started making learning games about specific provinces (and other provincial-level divisions).

 

So far:

Districts of Beijing
Cities of Guangdong

Cities of Zhejiang

 

More to come in the following weeks.

 

As always you can learn the prefectural cities and districts in Chinese (simplified and traditional).

Just click on Language below the map.

 

[abcdefg]

Very nice! Well done! I lived in Zhuhai 珠海 for about a year and made a point of exploring most of Guangdong. Learned a lot of these major cities/prefectural cities at the time, but have since forgotten them. A "game" tool such as this would have been extremely helpful at the time as I rode the busses and trains to the corners of the province, seeing spots of historical interest, sampling local food specialties, exploring the tea growing areas, etc. 

 

I remember being mystified when first arriving in Guangdong trying to figure out the single-character abbreviation for Guangdong used on car license plates. 粤. I see you now have added a feature to one of your other quizzes for learning those as well! 

 

One of the drills I used to do with these geography-training game/tools was to try to play a "speed version" after first learning them fairly well. The app I used at the time had a feature you could activate to set increasingly-short time limits for answering. Your answer didn't count as correct if you had to delay very long; had to scratch your head and think about it; correct answers needed to instant and nearly automatic. 

 

Though I'm not likely to use these apps very much any more, since I'm no longer exploring China, I'm sure they will help other people who are in the active phases of getting to know China via "boots on the ground" or even in an academic context. Having a good grasp of such things, such as learning the dynasties in order, makes other China-related studies and learning richer and more fun. I think of them as "lynchpin knowledge" that provides an anchoring place for other information. 

 

So thank you for making these available. 

 

 

[dawoniu]

@abcdefg

Thank you for your interesting insights and your feedback!

I already added a timer but a speed version is a good idea. I'll think about that.

 

What I realized when making these provincial-level quiz games:

You can not directly compare the population of a "city" in China with the cities in the West.

The area of a Chinese city (2nd level divisions) is often so much larger than our cities.

But the population density can be much much lower.

[abcdefg]

On 2/5/2024 at 2:46 AM, dawoniu said:

You can not directly compare the population of "city" in China with the cities in the West.

 

Very true. That confuses lots of expat new arrivals. You can drive for miles out into into rural farmlands or wetlands where oysters beds are all around, and it is all still "city of Shenzhen," for example. Those rural areas are just as much "city" as is the CBD (central business district) where tall buildings dominate the landscape and you walk on sidewalks or in pedestrian tunnels or use the skybridge system. 

 

Such features makes it important to pay attention to the districts of any given city. Each of those functions, to some extent, like a discrete municipal entity. Each can have a distinctive character beyond obvious things like one being mainly industrial and one being mainly residential. Shenzhen for example, has nine districts. Some are more affluent. Some are mainly populated by people originally from one province or by residents of one minority nationality. In one district you hear Hakka everywhere, in another, the predominant language is Cantonese, in another, it is Putonghua. Chinese cities are not homogenous. 

 

But, that's not really surprising. I suppose you could say the same thing about New York City. 

 

The practical import becomes clear when an expat takes a job in Futian but leases an apartment, sight unseen, up in Guangming or out in Dapeng, miles away. 

[Steve Kane]

Very nice, I like how there is the option to use Chinese characters as well. How many did you end up including? The last time I checked the list I think there were 51.

[lordsuso]

This is great, thanks a lot! There seems to be a bug with Taiwan, I am unable to click on it.

[imron]

Some say bug, others say feature ;-)

[dawoniu]

On 2/6/2024 at 9:56 AM, Steve Kane said:

Very nice, I like how there is the option to use Chinese characters as well. How many did you end up including? The last time I checked the list I think there were 51.

I'm not sure if I understand your question. 51 ?

On 2/6/2024 at 11:21 AM, lordsuso said:

This is great, thanks a lot! There seems to be a bug with Taiwan, I am unable to click on it.

Oh no, it was a bug 🙈. I fixed it! Thanks! 😊

[Lu]

About Taiwan: some people believe it is, or should be, a province of China. Some people believe it is not and should not be. Whoever makes a map of China has to decide which side they are on. That is what people are hinting about here.

 

Personally I agree with the majority of the Taiwanese that Taiwan is a country, not a province of China, and should not become one either, so I was happy to see that it's not a province in your quiz.

[dawoniu]

@LuBy default Taiwan is not part of the quiz. But clicking on "Difficulty" is can be made part of the quiz. The player can choose. But yeah, you can not make everyone happy.