Paper 3 mark scheme is provided in the Exam Practice chapter

Last updated: 10/5/2023

Paper 3 mark scheme is provided in the Exam Practice chapter This should make it easier to understand what examiners are looking for in examination answers The actual Paper 3 IB History mark scheme can be found on the IB website The content covered by this book will provide you with the historical knowledge and understanding to help you answer all the specific content bullet points set out in the IB History Guide Also by the time you have worked through the various exercises you should have the skills necessary to construct relevant clear well argued and well supported essays Background to the period China before 1949 A general understanding of the background history of China before 1949 will help put the developments in China after 1949 into context The 1911 Revolution Before 1911 China was ruled by emperors and the political system was extremely undemocratic Economically China was an undeveloped agricultural society in which most of the population were poor peasants There were frequent famines in which millions died Because of its limited economic development and relative military weakness China was often at the mercy of stronger more developed states such as Britain the US Germany France and Japan In particular China s resources and people were frequently exploited by foreign companies As a result of all these problems groups of would be political reformers merged in China during the 19th century These groups tried to push or reforms to modernise and democratise Chinese society but they ere usually brutally crushed by the Chinese government or by e forces of Western powers The lack of success of these reformers entually led some to believe that revolution violent if necessary s the only way things could be improved Introductior However those wanting reform to agree on which strategy offered the best way forward At first or revolution often found it hard groups in China wanting radical change adopted liberal and nationalist ideologies rather than those based on socialist or communist ideas Soon though Marxism began to appeal to a small number of reformers and revolutionaries Although there was a nationalist revolution in China in 1911 known as the Double Tenth as it began on 10 October 1911 which overthrew the emperor and established a republic Marxism was still relatively insignificant in China The preponderance of nationalism among China s youth was shown for instance by the May Fourth Movement which university students began on 4 May 1919 to protest against the treaties that had ended World War One and which despite China being on the Allied side had allowed Japan to retain some Chinese ports After the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 however Marxist ideas began to spread more widely in China In 1921 the Chinese Communist Party CCP was formed one of its founder members was Mao Zedong Mao Zedong 1893 1976 Mao came from a relatively prosperous peasant family In 1913 he decided to train as a teacher and in 1918 he helped establish a Society for the Study of Marxism In 1919 he became a library assistant in Beijing University and studied Marxism In 1921 he became a founder member of the Chinese Communist Party CCP he became its leader in 1935 and held this position until his death in 1976 He resented Soviet attempts to influence developments in China both in the years before and after the victory of the CCP in 1949 and from the 1960s a serious split developed between these two Communist states During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s his ideas were spread by young Chinese activists organised in units of Red Guards At first Communism in China was heavily influenced by developments in the Soviet Union in fact the formation of the Chinese Communist Party had been encouraged by the Communist leaders in Soviet Russia At the time the Chinese Nationalist Party the Guomindang or GMD under its founder and leader Sun Yat sen was attempting to establish