Mongol Empire: Making the Modern World Practice Test

In China, the Song dynasty had relied heavily on scholar-officials selected through examinations. Under the Yuan, Mongol rulers sometimes limited the examination system and elevated Mongols and other groups in government. Which effect would most likely result from these policies?

A) Increased political influence of traditional Confucian scholar-elites compared to earlier periods

B) Social tensions and resentment among groups excluded from top offices

C) Immediate disappearance of bureaucracy and written administration

D) Rapid expansion of peasant self-rule and village democracy

E) Complete end of trade and urbanization in China

By the late 1300s, Mongol rule had ended in China and weakened elsewhere, with successor states emerging. Yet some institutions and patterns persisted, including certain trade connections and administrative practices. Which term best describes this relationship between Mongol rule and later developments?

A) Historical continuity amid political change

B) Total rupture with no lasting influence

C) Linear progress toward modern democracy

D) Isolationism replacing all exchange permanently

E) A single-cause explanation based only on religion