China after 1949: the People's Republic, the Cultural Revolution and later reforms

Grade 10 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to D, summaries in our words, written today. Card A (Stanford SPICE): The Cultural Revolution ran from 1966 to 1976. Schools and universities closed from autumn 1966. Red Guards terrorized millions of people, thousands were imprisoned, and about 16 million urban youth were sent to work in the countryside. Card B (Columbia, Asia for Educators): From 1966 millions of young Red Guards were mobilized. Party veterans, including Deng Xiaoping, were purged. Card C (Columbia, Asia for Educators): Deng was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution and his family was persecuted. Soon after Mao's death in 1976 he became China's paramount leader. Card D (Harvard, Invisible Histories): The Great Leap Forward began in August 1958. The famine's toll remains controversial: the official Chinese estimate is 15 million, and the consensus of independent scholars is 30 to 35 million.

2. 1.

   Card A is a university summary of the Cultural Revolution. What is it better evidence for than card B, Ari asks?

   • Which Party leaders lost their posts in the Cultural Revolution, and who replaced them
   • What the Red Guards believed they were fighting for in 1966
   • Whether sending urban youth to the countryside raised farm output
   • How the Cultural Revolution reached schools and young people across China
3. 2.

   Card C says Deng was imprisoned, then became paramount leader. A student says his imprisonment shaped his reforms. What can the cards show, Bo asks?

   • The order of his imprisonment and later leadership, but not that one shaped the other
   • That he returned to power because the Cultural Revolution had failed and his policies were needed
   • That his imprisonment shaped his later reforms, since it came first
   • Nothing about his later policies, since card C is about his life
4. 3.

   Card D gives an official 15 million and a scholars' 30 to 35 million. A student prefers the official figure because it is official. Which reply fits the card, Esme asks?

   • Official does not mean complete: independent scholars reach a figure at least twice as high
   • The official figure is safer, because the government held the records at the time
   • Neither figure can be used, since sources that disagree cancel each other out
   • The scholars' figure is safer, since a consensus of 30 to 35 million is a count and the official one is an estimate
5. 4.

   Cards B and C both mention Deng Xiaoping. What do they show together, Jun asks?

   • Deng led the Red Guards before he was imprisoned
   • Deng was in prison from 1966 until he became paramount leader after 1976
   • A Party veteran purged in the Cultural Revolution later became China's paramount leader
   • Mao's death ended the Cultural Revolution's policies at once, since Deng took over soon after
6. 5.

   Cards A and B both describe young people in the Cultural Revolution. Which statement do they support together, Kira asks?

   • The 16 million sent to the countryside were the Red Guards, since both cards describe young people in the same years
   • Each student who left school in 1966 became a Red Guard or went to the countryside
   • Millions joined as Red Guards, and a separate count of about 16 million urban youth were sent to the countryside
   • Young people chose to leave school, which is why schools closed from autumn 1966
7. 6.

   Card D gives 15 million and 30 to 35 million. Which description of the gap is fair, Milo asks?

   • The scholars' range runs 15 to 20 million above the official figure, so the estimates are far apart
   • The figures cannot be compared, since one is official and the other independent
   • The gap is small, since the three numbers describe a famine on a very large scale, so the exact number matters little
   • The scholars are 15 million above the official figure, since 30 minus 15 is 15
8. 7.

   A writer says 'about 16 million young people were persecuted in the Cultural Revolution.' What does card A allow, Noah asks?

   • Millions were terrorized and about 16 million sent away; the card does not call them all persecuted
   • That only thousands were persecuted, since card A says thousands were imprisoned
   • That 16 million young people were terrorized by Red Guards, since the two counts are in one card
   • That exactly 16,000,000 were persecuted, since the card gives a number for them
9. 8.

   A student reads card D and writes 'at least 15 million lost their lives.' Is that safe, Pia asks?

   • Yes, and the card also shows the toll was under 35 million
   • No, since a controversial toll cannot give any bound
   • Yes, as a floor: the lowest estimate on the card is 15 million
   • No, because the official figure is the least reliable and should be ignored

10. Use this

    Cards A to D, summaries in our words, written today. Card A (Office of the Historian): On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the People's Republic of China after the civil war between the Communist Party and the Nationalists. Card B (Columbia, Asia for Educators): In 1958 and 1959 the Great Leap Forward put the countryside into communes. Card C (Stanford SPICE): From 1966 to 1976 the Cultural Revolution closed schools and universities from autumn 1966 and sent about 16 million urban youth to the countryside. Card D (Columbia, Asia for Educators): After Mao's death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping, a Party veteran, became the paramount leader. Communes were dismantled and replaced by the Household Responsibility System, and farmers were encouraged to start private businesses.

11. 9.

    Cards A to D cover 1949 to the late 1970s. Which statement about continuity and change do they support, Ren asks?

    • The Party ended communes in 1958 and brought them back after 1976
    • Schools reopened in 1976 when communes ended, which shows one change caused the other
    • One ruling party stayed in place while its farm policy changed after Mao's death
    • Farm policy stayed the same until 1976, which shows the Party's policies were fixed
12. 10.

    A student says Deng reversed Mao's policies. What do cards B to D support, and what goes further, Zee asks?

    • Deng reversed Mao's policies across the whole economy, since he ended communes
    • Ending communes reversed a Mao-era farm policy, but the cards say nothing about other policies
    • Deng reversed Mao's policies in farming and left the rest of the economy as it was, since card D mentions nothing else
    • Deng reversed the school closures too, since card D comes after card C