A-Level History: Mao's China, 1949–76

This material covers China from the proclamation of the People's Republic on 1 October 1949 to Mao Zedong's death in September 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four a month later. It is based on the content of the China options of the A level History specifications (for example AQA's 'The Transformation of China, 1936–1997', which runs further in both directions).

The material follows the main phases of Mao's rule. The first is consolidation: land reform and the destruction of the landlord class, the Marriage Law, the Three Antis and Five Antis campaigns, the Korean War and the Soviet alliance, and the Soviet-style First Five-Year Plan with the move to collective farming. The second is the turn to radical mobilisation: the Hundred Flowers and the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward and the people's communes, the Lushan Conference and the fall of Peng Dehuai, and the famine of 1959–61, with attention to how false statistics and high procurement turned policy failure into catastrophe. The third is the recovery under Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping and the tensions it created. The fourth is the Cultural Revolution: its aims, the Red Guards and the attack on the 'Four Olds', the fall of Liu and Deng, the rustication of urban youth, the rise and fall of Lin Biao, and the final struggle between radicals and pragmatists, from the Tiananmen Incident of April 1976 to the arrest of the Gang of Four.

The quiz uses chronology questions, multiple-answer questions and short scenarios, such as a commune reporting a false harvest or a Shanghai student sent to the countryside. The flashcards fix the campaigns, people and dates. The written work sets eight explanation and essay-style tasks, for example on how far Mao was responsible for the famine or why he launched the Cultural Revolution, each with a reference answer and key points. The oral exam asks you to argue your judgements aloud, one question at a time, with brief feedback at the end. Where figures are disputed, such as famine deaths, the material gives the range of estimates rather than a single number.

Specifications differ in their date ranges, so check which years your own paper covers.

• Explain how the Communists consolidated power between 1949 and 1957
• Explain the aims and outcomes of the First Five-Year Plan and collectivisation
• Assess the causes and consequences of the Great Leap Forward and the famine
• Explain Mao's aims in launching the Cultural Revolution and its effects
• Explain the rise and fall of Lin Biao and the succession struggle of 1976
• Place the main events of 1949–76 in the correct order

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the China content of the A level History specifications (for example AQA 2P, The Transformation of China, 1936–1997), period 1949–76.