Explain why Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution.
Edexcel GCSE History · 1HI0/32 June 2025, Question 2(b)
More questions on this topic
Practise the whole topic →1HI0/32June 2024Question 14 marks~5 min Study Source A below and then answer Question 1.
Source AFrom a radio interview with a Chinese woman in 1997. Here she is remembering her experiences as a schoolgirl during the Cultural Revolution. One time, I saw some Red Guards arresting a young girl. Someone had said she was a baddie and that was enough to get her arrested. The Red Guards were using their belts to beat her up. I was a Red Guard, too, and wanted to show how much revolutionary spirit I had, so I took off my belt. I had to look as if I was beating her even if I didn’t want to. If you didn’t beat people, you were not showing enough hatred for the enemy.
Give two things you can infer from Source A about the actions of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.
Complete the table below to explain your answer.
Answer frame
- (i) What I can infer
- Details in the source that tell me this
- (ii) What I can infer
- Details in the source that tell me this
1HI0/32November 2020Question 14 marks~5 min Source AFrom an article in a magazine published in China, March 1969. Here it is commenting on the ‘Up to the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign. Taking their rucksacks with them, many groups of students have gone up to the mountains and settled there. However, some students are hesitant about going to the hilly areas and the countryside. This is because they have been influenced by a handful of ‘class enemies’. These students look upon life in the city with great love but look upon life in the countryside with contempt. They have respect for industry but ignore agriculture. Therefore, they use various excuses to stay in the city and are unwilling to go to the countryside.
Give two things you can infer from Source A about the ‘Up to the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign.
Complete the table below to explain your answer.
Answer frame
- (i) What I can infer
- Details in the source that tell me this
- (ii) What I can infer
- Details in the source that tell me this
1HI0/32June 2025Question 14 marks~5 min Study Source A below and then answer Question 1.
Source A From Report from a Chinese Village by Jan Myrdal, published in 1965. Myrdal was a European who lived in a Chinese village for a month in 1962.
Give two things you can infer from Source A about the status of women in China under Mao.
Complete the table below to explain your answer.
1HI0/32June 2025Question 2(a)Either / or12 marks~15 min Explain why Mao introduced the second Five-Year Plan (Great Leap Forward).
1HI0/32June 2025Question 3(a)8 marks~10 min For this section, you will need to use the sources and interpretations in the Sources/Interpretations Booklet.
Study Sources B and C.
Source B From an article in an American news magazine, published in December 1952. The title of the article was The 'Three-Anti' and 'Five-Anti' Movements in Communist China.
Source C An official photograph taken in 1952. It shows a public trial, which was held as part of the 'antis' campaigns.
How useful are Sources B and C for an enquiry into the main impact of the 'antis' movements (1951–52)?
Explain your answer, using Sources B and C and your knowledge of the historical context.
1HI0/32June 2025Question 3(b)4 marks~5 min Study Interpretations 1 and 2.
Interpretation 1 From a history website.
Interpretation 2 From The Three and Five Antis Campaign by Stephanie Chung, published 2009.
They give different views about the main impact of the 'antis' movements (1951–52).
What is the main difference between these views?
Explain your answer, using details from both interpretations.