Mao’s China, 1945-76 | Edexcel GCSE History (1HI0)

Mao’s China, 1945-76

175 questions
16 subtopics
Paper 3
Paper 3

Mao’s China, 1945–76 is examined in Paper 3, Modern depth study.

It covers the Civil War, 1945–49, communist rule, 1945–59, Consolidating the CCP’s hold on power, 1951–52, the Hundred Flowers campaign, 1956–57, early changes in agriculture, 1949–57, industry and the Five-Year Plan, 1953–57, the Great Leap Forward, economic reform, 1962–65, reasons for the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and the Red Terror, the effects of the Cultural Revolution, the end of the Cultural Revolution, 1968–76, communist control, 1949–76, family life and the role of women, education and health, 1949–76 and cultural change, 1949–76.

Sample questions from Mao’s China, 1945-76

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The Civil War, 1945–49

Give two weaknesses that damaged the Guomindang in 1946.

Show the answer
Corruption among its officers and officials, and an economy wrecked by runaway inflation.
Consolidating the CCP’s hold on power, 1951–52

What did the terror achieve for the new government?

Show the answer
It destroyed organised opposition and made people so frightened that resistance to later campaigns was rare.
Early changes in agriculture, 1949–57

What happened to the landlords themselves?

Show the answer
They were denounced before the village and stripped of everything, and an estimated one to two million were killed.
The Great Leap Forward

Why did the backyard furnaces fail?

Show the answer
The metal they produced was brittle and useless, and the labour and fuel spent on them were taken away from the harvest.
Reasons for the Cultural Revolution

What did Mao accuse Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping of doing to China?

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Taking the capitalist road and creating a privileged class of officials and experts cut off from ordinary people.
The effects of the Cultural Revolution

When did schools and universities close, and how long did they stay shut?

Show the answer
They closed in 1966; most schools reopened within a couple of years, but universities took in almost no students until about 1970.
Communist control, 1949–76

What was the Little Red Book?

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A pocket collection of Mao's sayings, put together by Lin Biao for the army in 1964 and then printed in hundreds of millions of copies.
Education and health, 1949–76

What is Pinyin, and why did it matter?

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A system introduced in 1958 for writing Chinese sounds in the Roman alphabet, which made it far easier to teach reading and a common spoken standard.

The 16 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The Civil War, 1945–49	The Guomindang's advantages in 1946, American support, its territory, corruption and inflation, communist strength at Yan'an, guerrilla warfare, the rules of conduct, peasant support, city discontent, and where the communists got their weapons.	10
Communist rule, 1945–59	Mao's peasant version of Marxism, continuous revolution, Mao Zedong Thought, his two positions after 1949, why he could not be challenged, democratic centralism, party growth, cadres, the six regions and party control of the state.	10
Consolidating the CCP’s hold on power, 1951–52	The campaign against counter-revolutionaries, struggle meetings, executions and labour camps, what the terror achieved, the 'three antis' and its targets, the 'five antis' and the capitalists, and the results of both.	10
The Hundred Flowers campaign, 1956–57	The slogan of 1956, why Mao invited criticism from educated people and of his own officials, the influence of events in Europe, the opening of the campaign in 1957, who spoke out and what they said, Mao's response, the Anti-Rightist purge and its lasting effect of silencing educated people.	10
Early changes in agriculture, 1949–57	The Agrarian Reform Law, why landlords were destroyed and how, their fate, mutual aid teams, cooperatives, the case for farming together, Mao's impatience in 1955 and full collectives by 1957.	10
Industry and the Five-Year Plan, 1953–57	Why heavy industry came first, the Soviet model and its help, the cost of Soviet loans, the industries that grew, the Wuhan bridge, neglected consumer goods, farming left behind and Mao's dislike of the planners.	10
The Great Leap Forward	The second Five-Year Plan of 1958–62, Mao's faith in China's population, walking on two legs, the break from Soviet dependence, the backyard furnaces and their failure, what the campaign achieved, false figures, the Lushan Conference and Peng Dehuai, the communes and communal living, Lysenkoism, and the causes, death toll and effects of the Great Famine.	17
Economic reform, 1962–65	Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping in charge, the return of private plots and markets, the black cat remark, grain recovery by 1965, factory bonuses and managers, smaller communes and Mao's suspicion of it all.	10
Reasons for the Cultural Revolution	Mao's loss of standing, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping as capitalist roaders, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing as allies, the Socialist Education Movement, and Mao's views on schools and red over expert.	10
The Red Guards and the Red Terror	Who the Red Guards were and why they answered Mao, the Tiananmen rallies, bombard the headquarters, Jiang Qing's part, the 'four olds', the treatment of teachers, the destruction, factional fighting and denunciations.	10
The effects of the Cultural Revolution	The purge of officials, the fates of Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Lin Biao, closed schools, the lost generation, families and religion, falling output, lost managers, city youth in the villages and Dazhai.	12
The end of the Cultural Revolution, 1968–76	Why Mao stopped the Red Guards, the army under Lin Biao, young people sent to the villages, the 1969 congress, Zhou Enlai, Deng's return, the Gang of Four, Tiananmen 1976, Mao's death and the arrests.	14
Communist control, 1949–76	Communist propaganda and censorship, the cult of Mao and its political use, the Little Red Book, thought reform and self-criticism, Reform Through Labour and who was sent to the camps, and how the work unit controlled daily life in the towns.	10
Family life and the role of women	The traditional family, what the communes did to home life, why the party wanted family loyalty weakened, foot binding, the Marriage Law of 1950, why women's position changed, half the sky and unequal work points.	10
Education and health, 1949–76	Schooling before 1949, why education was spread, literacy classes for adults, Pinyin and simplified characters, education after 1966, healthcare before communist rule, the patriotic health campaigns, the barefoot doctors and their work, and the successes and failures of health policy under Mao.	11
Cultural change, 1949–76	Why the party attacked traditional culture, what was condemned in the cities and destroyed in the countryside, the purpose of art and literature, Jiang Qing and the model works, the attack on religion, and the treatment of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism and ancestor worship.	11

Mao’s China, 1945-76 is 175 of the 2,881 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.