China 1950-1981: the People and the State | OCR GCSE History A (J410)
China 1950-1981: the People and the State
- 82 questions
- 6 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
China 1950–1981: The People and the State is examined in Paper 1, Period study with non-British depth study.
It covers early purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950s, land reform, collectivisation, the First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward, causes and impact of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and Tibet, the nature of Communist propaganda and its impact, communism in China after the death of Mao 1976–1981 and the Communist state and the Chinese people.
Sample questions from China 1950-1981: the People and the State
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Early purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950s
What slogan gave the Hundred Flowers campaign of 1956 its name?
Show the answer
‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend’. -
Early purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950s
What took over from the family and the clan as the centre of daily life in the cities?
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The work unit, or danwei, which controlled a person’s job, housing, rations, welfare and even permission to marry. -
Land reform, collectivisation, the First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward
Which kinds of production did the First Five Year Plan concentrate on?
Show the answer
Heavy industry — coal, steel, cement, electricity and machinery — rather than goods for ordinary consumers. -
Land reform, collectivisation, the First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward
Give two reasons the Great Leap Forward ended in the famine of 1959–62.
Show the answer
Peasants were taken off the fields to make steel and build dams, and local officials reported harvests far bigger than the real ones so the state seized too much grain. -
Causes and impact of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and Tibet
What happened to schools and universities after 1966?
Show the answer
They were shut and entrance examinations abandoned, so a whole generation lost years of education. -
Causes and impact of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and Tibet
Which ‘Four Olds’ were the Red Guards ordered to destroy?
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Old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits, which meant burning books, smashing temples and wrecking anything foreign. -
The nature of Communist propaganda and its impact
How did the swim in the Yangtze in 1966 serve Mao Zedong?
Show the answer
Photographs of the seventy-two-year-old chairman swimming told the country he was fit enough to lead a second revolution. -
The nature of Communist propaganda and its impact
How far did the publicity given to Dazhai carry its leader Chen Yonggui?
Show the answer
Into the Politburo in 1973, so that a village brigade leader sat among China’s national rulers.
The 6 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Early purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950s | The Three-anti and Five-anti campaigns, struggle meetings and the Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries, the Hundred Flowers and the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Marriage Law, the attack on filial piety, the danwei, women's new rights, youth organisations and the literacy drives. | 13 |
| Land reform, collectivisation, the First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward | The Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, mutual aid teams and higher-stage cooperatives, the First Five Year Plan and Soviet help, the Great Leap Forward, the communes and backyard furnaces, the famine of 1959–62, and the Dazhai model and its inflated harvest figures. | 13 |
| Causes and impact of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and Tibet | Mao Zedong's weakened grip after 1962, his charges against Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, fears about the young, the closure of schools and the treatment of intellectuals, the sent-down youth, the Red Guards and the Four Olds, and the rising of 1959 and religion in Tibet. | 10 |
| The nature of Communist propaganda and its impact | The Little Red Book and Lin Biao, the model soldier Lei Feng, Mao Zedong's swim in the Yangtze, posters, badges and broadcasts, the personality cult's grip on everyday speech, and Dazhai's treatment of doubters, its publicity, its hidden help and its exposure after Mao. | 10 |
| Communism in China after the death of Mao 1976–1981 | The Gang of Four and the trial of Jiang Qing, the democracy wall, the Four Modernisations, the household responsibility system, Special Economic Zones, the verdict on Mao Zedong, the One Child policy, schooling and women. | 16 |
| The Communist state and the Chinese people | The Party's overriding aim, cadres and mass campaigns, the hukou, landlords and business owners, the burden on women, the young, religious minorities, popular support and quiet resistance, and the problems of the sources. | 20 |
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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.
Nearby topics
OCR GCSE History A Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,449 questions with their answers.