China's Tang and Song dynasties: printing, the compass and paper money

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   The magnetic needle in Song China (cards A to C; summaries in our words; the Song dynasty ruled from 960 to 1279). Card A, Shen Kuo, a Song official and scholar, in his Dream Pool Essays (about 1088): a needle rubbed with lodestone points toward the south, but leans a little east of true south. He describes floating the needle in water or hanging it from a thread. Card B, Zhu Yu, a Song writer, in a book from the early 1100s: he records what he heard about ships at Guangzhou, where his father ran the trade office from 1094 to 1099. He says pilots steer by the stars at night and the sun by day, and by a south-pointing needle in cloudy weather. Card C, Zhao Rukuo, a Song official who from 1224 supervised trade at the port of Quanzhou, in a book finished about 1225: he describes foreign lands and goods, gathering much of it from what foreign merchants and sailors told him. He never traveled outside China.

2. 1.

   Which writers are retelling what other people told them, Ari asks?

   • Shen Kuo and Zhao Rukuo, who report what they saw at sea
   • Shen Kuo and Zhu Yu, who report in their books what they heard from others
   • Zhu Yu and Zhao Rukuo, who report what they heard from others
   • Zhao Rukuo alone, because he was a government official
3. 2.

   Shen Kuo wrote about 1088 and Zhao Rukuo about 1225. About how many years apart are the two books, Bo asks?

   • About 54 years
   • About 5 years
   • About 137 years
   • About 127 years
4. 3.

   A student says, "Cards A and B show the Song invented the compass." How strong is that claim, Esme asks?

   • Strong: two Song writers describe it, so no earlier people can have had it
   • Weak: books by Song writers cannot be used as evidence about the compass
   • Strong: card A says Shen Kuo invented the needle he describes
   • Weak: the cards show a needle in use in Song times, not who made it first
5. 4.

   How do cards A and B fit together, and how far do they go, Jun asks?

   • Together they show that sailors on the open seas relied on the compass for steering
   • Zhu Yu copied his account from Shen Kuo's book
   • They disagree about which way the needle points when the sky is cloudy
   • A shows a needle pointing south and B shows pilots using one, not wide use
6. 5.

   Zhao Rukuo supervised trade at Quanzhou. Why is his book useful, and how is it limited, Kira asks?

   • He wrote about 1225, so the book shows how the compass began
   • He was a government official, so the book is of no use to any historian today
   • He knew the port and its merchants, but much rests on what others said
   • He saw the ports with his own eyes, so what he wrote cannot be wrong
7. 6.

   Why does card B mention cloudy weather, Luz asks?

   • It shows pilots feared the sea and stayed in port
   • It marks when pilots needed the needle: when the sky was hidden
   • It shows that cloudy weather makes a needle point away from the south
   • It shows pilots preferred the needle to the stars on clear nights at sea
8. 7.

   Cards A and B describe a south-pointing needle and pilots steering in cloudy weather. Which statement do the cards support, Milo asks?

   • A south-pointing needle could give direction when stars and sun are hidden
   • Pilots stopped learning the stars and the sun once the needle arrived
   • The needle made Song ships the most accurate at sea in the world
   • The needle pointed to true south, so pilots needed no other help
9. 8.

   Which card is best evidence of what pilots really did, and why, Pia asks?

   • No card, because a needle cannot be evidence of anything
   • Card B, because it reports pilots' practice, though second-hand
   • Card A, because Shen Kuo was an official who knew how ships were steered
   • Card C, because it was finished last, so it must be the most accurate
10. 9.

    A student says, "Cards B and C show Song ships crossed oceans by compass." How strong is that claim, Tala asks?

    • Strong: card C says Zhao Rukuo crossed the ocean to collect his facts
    • Weak: Song writers did not know about ships, so they cannot be used
    • Strong: card B shows pilots used the needle and card C shows far-off ports abroad
    • Weak: B names a needle under clouds, and C lists ports, not compass voyages
11. 10.

    Shen Kuo describes the needle itself, while Zhu Yu describes pilots. What is the best reason for the difference, Zee asks?

    • They covered different matters: a needle's behavior and how ships steer
    • One of the writers must be wrong, because they disagree
    • Shen Kuo wrote his book for pilots, and Zhu Yu wrote his for scholars
    • Zhu Yu wrote first, so Shen Kuo then explained the needle to pilots