๐จ๐ณ China ยท ไธญๅฝ (Zhลngguรณ)
Dynastic building projects at a scale that still surprises: buried armies, canals longer than countries, and a palace city with 9,000 rooms.
China's collection needs 1 more round before it opens. These are live today.
China's built history runs from rammed earth and timber brackets to the fastest urban rebuild ever attempted. The gap between an intact courtyard neighbourhood and a forest of towers can be a single decade.
Architecture
Timber-frame halls with dougong bracket sets, glazed tile roofs and red columns are imperial. Grey-brick hutong courtyards are Ming-Qing Beijing. Soviet-influenced institutional blocks are 1950s; glass towers with a decorative crown are post-1995.
Landscape
Karst towers over a river are Guangxi. Loess terraces and dust are the northwest. Flooded terraced hillsides are Yunnan or Guizhou; flat, intensively cropped delta is the Yangtze.
Period tells
Big-character posters and uniform blue-grey clothing put you in 1966โ1976. Bicycle-dominated boulevards are the 1980s. Cranes plus complete blocks demolished at once is 1995 onwards.
A starting shortlist, oldest first. Every one of these makes a round that the Chinese can nail and everyone else has to work out.
Xi'an, ShaanxiAncient world
Around 8,000 individually modelled soldiers guarding the first emperor's tomb.
Luoyang to HangzhouMedieval
1,776 km of artificial waterway moving grain โ and armies โ across the empire.
NanjingMedieval
Ships several times the length of Columbus's, sailing as far as East Africa.
BeijingMedieval
A million workers, 24 emperors, and a strict northโsouth axis through the capital.
ShenzhenModern era
A fishing county turned megacity โ the pilot project for China's opening up.
Chinese history touches ancient & classical, medieval & renaissance and the 20th century. Each of those eras has a timed round of its own โ the same centuries, but questions drawn from every country in the library, so you find out whether you can date the rest of the period as confidently as you can date China.
Ancient & classical
Chinese moment here: The Terracotta Army buried (210 BC).
Medieval & Renaissance
Chinese moments here: The Grand Canal completed (609), Zheng He's treasure fleet sails (1405), The Forbidden City completed (1420). 1 playable 360ยฐ scene already built.
20th century
Chinese moment here: Shenzhen becomes a special economic zone (1980).
One panorama from this country is already in the game. Each has a page explaining what you are looking at and how to date it.
Longjiang shipyards and the Yangtze at Nanjing, China
Admiral Zheng He's massive fleet of Chinese junks prepares to depart on another voyage to Southeast Asia, India, and Africa.
Dates, order and places from the moments above. Answers are printed underneath โ cover them with a hand if you want to test yourself, or read them out for a quiz round.
1.The Terracotta Army buried โ what year?
Answer210 BC
Around 8,000 individually modelled soldiers guarding the first emperor's tomb.
2.The Grand Canal completed โ what year?
Answer609
1,776 km of artificial waterway moving grain โ and armies โ across the empire.
3.Zheng He's treasure fleet sails โ what year?
Answer1405
Ships several times the length of Columbus's, sailing as far as East Africa.
4.The Forbidden City completed โ what year?
Answer1420
A million workers, 24 emperors, and a strict northโsouth axis through the capital.
5.Shenzhen becomes a special economic zone โ what year?
Answer1980
A fishing county turned megacity โ the pilot project for China's opening up.
6.Which came first in China โ the Terracotta Army buried or the Grand Canal completed?
AnswerThe Terracotta Army buried, in 210 BC.
The Grand Canal completed follows in 609, 819 years later.
7.Where in China would you drop the pin for the Terracotta Army buried?
AnswerXi'an, Shaanxi
Around 8,000 individually modelled soldiers guarding the first emperor's tomb.
8.Where in China would you drop the pin for the Grand Canal completed?
AnswerLuoyang to Hangzhou
1,776 km of artificial waterway moving grain โ and armies โ across the empire.
9.How far apart are the oldest and newest Chinese moments in this collection?
Answer2,190 years
From the Terracotta Army buried in 210 BC to Shenzhen becomes a special economic zone in 1980.
You don't need a photograph or a map reference. Name a moment โ "The Terracotta Army buried, Xi'an, Shaanxi" โ and the builder fills in the year, drops the pin, writes the factoid and paints a 360ยฐ scene you can stand inside. Publish it and it joins this collection for everyone.
Step 1
One line is enough โ an event, a place, a year you half-remember. Or let the AI draft five moments around a theme.
Step 2
The year, the exact coordinates and a one-sentence factoid come back filled in. Everything stays editable.
Step 3
A 4K 360ยฐ panorama of that place in that year, ready to spin around inside the game.
๐จ๐ณ Put your own scene on /play/china
Credits cover the AI: 1 to auto-fill a moment, 3 to draft five at once, 25 for each 4K panorama. Your map stays yours โ you choose whether it's public, unlisted or private.
Moments the Chinese want to see in the game. Vote them up โ the top of this list gets built next.
Each round drops you into a 360ยฐ scene from China's past. Look around for clues โ architecture, clothing, technology, landscape โ then place the scene on the world map and pick the year. You score up to 5,000 points a round: closer in distance and closer in time both pay. Five rounds make a game.
No. You can play Chinese rounds straight away with no sign-up. Signing in saves your XP, keeps your character progressing through history, and puts you on the leaderboards.
The collection spans 210 BC to 1980 โ from the terracotta army buried through to shenzhen becomes a special economic zone. New moments are added as the community suggests them.
Yes, completely free. There is no paywall on rounds, the daily challenge, or the leaderboards.
Yes โ that's how the collection grows. Suggest any moment the Chinese would recognise instantly, like the terracotta army buried. Approved suggestions get built into playable 360ยฐ rounds and credited on the page.
There are currently 2 playable Chinese rounds, shuffled so each game is different. The pool grows every time a community suggestion is built.
Daily Challenge
Five fresh rounds every day, same for everyone.
History quizzes
Short quizzes across eras, empires and events.
Community maps
Panorama collections built by other players.
All game modes
Every free history game on the site, in one list.