HKDSE Chinese History Paper 1 Mock Paper (10 questions, 100 marks, 1 hour 45 minutes)

2026-11-01

HKDSE Chinese History

HKDSE Chinese History Paper 1 mock: 10 questions, 100 marks, 105 minutes, covering the Opium Wars, 1911 Revolution, War of Resistance and reform era, with marking notes.

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Paper details　Level: HKDSE | Subject: Chinese History | Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Marks: 100 | Questions: 10

Section A (Questions 1 to 5, 48 marks)

Answer ALL questions. Support your points with the sources and with historical knowledge, showing both arguments and evidence. For data questions, show all working and give numerical answers to the accuracy required.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	Source A: In 1842 the Qing court signed a treaty at Nanjing. Its terms included the cession of Hong Kong Island, an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars, the opening of Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai as treaty ports, and a tariff fixed by agreement. Source B: In 1843 Britain forced the Qing court to sign a supplementary treaty granting consular jurisdiction and most-favoured-nation treatment. (a) Identify the treaty in Source A and the year it was signed. (2 marks) (b) Name the supplementary treaty in Source B and the two rights it added. (3 marks) (c) How did these treaties change the status of Hong Kong? (3 marks)	(a) The Treaty of Nanjing, 1842. (2 marks: name 1, year 1) (b) The Treaty of the Bogue (Supplementary Treaty of 1843). It added consular jurisdiction and most-favoured-nation treatment. (3 marks: name 1, one mark for each right) (c) Hong Kong Island passed from Qing administration to direct British colonial rule, with a governor and courts set up and Chinese judicial authority removed. It became a British trading and naval base off the China coast, while its free-port policy drew Chinese merchants and foreign capital, so population and entrepot trade grew quickly. (3 marks: cession and transfer of jurisdiction 1, trade and military base role 1, free port and population growth 1)
2	The table shows the cumulative number of treaty ports opened in China, 1842 to 1895: Year　　Treaty or event　　　　　　　Cumulative treaty ports 1842　　Treaty of Nanjing　　　　　　　5 1858　　Treaty of Tianjin　　　　　　 16 1876　　Chefoo Convention　　　　　　 20 1895　　Treaty of Shimonoseki　　　　 24 (a) According to the table, by how many did the treaty ports increase from 1842 to 1895, and what was the percentage increase? (4 marks) (b) What was the average increase per year from 1842 to 1895? (3 decimal places) (3 marks) (c) Comment on the social and economic effects of the growing number of treaty ports. (3 marks)	(a) The increase was 24 minus 5, that is 19 ports; the percentage increase was 19 divided by 5 times 100%, that is 380%. (4 marks: number 2, percentage with working 2) (b) The period covers 1895 minus 1842, that is 53 years, so the average increase was 19 divided by 53, about 0.358 ports per year. (3 marks: years 1, division 1, answer 1) (c) Positive: foreign trade and entrepot shipping expanded, coastal cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou commercialised quickly, and modern banks, newspapers and telegraph services appeared alongside Self-Strengthening enterprises. Negative: foreign goods undercut local products and ruined handicraft livelihoods; concessions and consular jurisdiction cost China tariff autonomy and judicial sovereignty; the gap between treaty ports and the interior widened. (3 marks: positive 1, negative 1, overall judgement 1)
3	The Self-Strengthening Movement ran from 1861 until the defeat by Japan in 1895. (a) Name one representative enterprise from each of the self-strengthening and wealth-seeking phases and describe its nature. (4 marks) (b) What military and educational reforms did the movement carry out? (3 marks) (c) Explain why the movement failed to make China strong and rich. (3 marks)	(a) In the self-strengthening phase the emphasis was armaments: the Jiangnan Arsenal, set up by Li Hongzhang at Shanghai in 1865, was government-run and produced guns, ammunition and steamships. In the wealth-seeking phase the emphasis was civilian industry: the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, founded by Li in 1872, was government-supervised and merchant-managed and competed with foreign shipping on coastal and Yangtze routes. (4 marks: one mark per enterprise, one per nature) (b) Military: a foreign affairs office (Zongli Yamen) was created in 1861, the Beiyang Fleet was formed in 1888, and the Fuzhou Dockyard and Tianjin military academy trained modern officers. Education: foreign-language schools such as the Tongwen Guan, students sent abroad, and translation of Western technical books. (3 marks: military 2, education 1) (c) Only hardware was imported while institutions stayed unchanged, with no parliament or responsible cabinet and decisions still held by conservatives around Cixi; most enterprises were government-supervised and merchant-managed, so management was corrupt and inefficient; revenue from customs and lijin was too small; provincial governors acted separately without central coordination; the annihilation of the Beiyang Fleet in 1895 showed the reform had never touched fundamentals. (3 marks: any three points)
4	In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to 1895 the Qing was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki: Taiwan, the Pescadores and the Liaodong peninsula were ceded, an indemnity of 200 million taels was paid, a further 30 million taels were paid to redeem Liaodong, Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou were opened, and Japanese subjects could set up factories in the treaty ports. (a) Calculate the total silver payable by the Qing to Japan. (2 marks) (b) If annual Qing revenue was about 80 million taels, how many years of revenue did the indemnity equal? (1 decimal place) (3 marks) (c) What effects did the factory clause have on China? (2 marks) (d) How did the defeat promote the reform movement? (3 marks)	(a) 200,000,000 plus 30,000,000, that is 230,000,000 taels (230 million taels). (2 marks: working 1, answer 1) (b) 230,000,000 divided by 80,000,000 is about 2.9 years of revenue. (3 marks: working 1, division 1, answer 1) (c) Foreign capital could build factories in the ports, using cheap Chinese labour and raw materials and paying no inland tax, which hurt national industry; the powers moved from exporting goods to exporting capital and tightened their grip on the Chinese economy. (2 marks) (d) The defeat exposed the limits of learning only Western techniques, and intellectuals demanded institutional change; Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao organised the 1895 petition of the examination candidates and the Study Society, urging a parliament, civil rights, abolition of the old examinations and modern schools; the 1898 Hundred Days Reform followed and, though it failed, established the case for institutional reform. (3 marks)
5	During the late Qing new policies the court abolished the old examinations, founded modern schools and sent students abroad. The table shows modern schools and students: Year　　Schools　　Students 1904　　4,222　　　92,169 1909　　59,117　　 1,638,884 (a) In 1909 the number of schools was about how many times the 1904 figure? (1 decimal place) (2 marks) (b) In 1909 the number of students was about how many times the 1904 figure? (1 decimal place) (2 marks) (c) What was the average number of students per school in 1909, and what does the comparison with 1904 show? (3 marks) (d) What social effects did abolishing the examinations and founding schools have in the late Qing? (3 marks)	(a) 59,117 divided by 4,222 is about 14.0 times. (2 marks: working 1, answer 1) (b) 1,638,884 divided by 92,169 is about 17.8 times. (2 marks: working 1, answer 1) (c) In 1909 there were about 1,638,884 divided by 59,117, that is 27.7 students per school, against 92,169 divided by 4,222, that is 21.8, in 1904. School size grew slightly, showing that modern education spread from a few urban flagship schools to ordinary schools with more pupils. (3 marks: 1909 figure 1, 1904 figure 1, interpretation 1) (d) Scholars lost the old ladder to office through the examinations and moved into schools and study abroad, absorbing Western political and scientific ideas; a new intelligentsia and press formed public opinion and became the social base of both revolutionary and constitutional movements; local gentry invested in schools, linking education with local self-government; yet funds and teachers were short, so the rural-urban gap in education widened. (3 marks: any three points)

Section B (Questions 6 to 10, 52 marks)

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
6	In 1905 Sun Yat-sen and others founded the Revolutionary Alliance in Tokyo, calling for the overthrow of the Manchus, the recovery of China, a republic and equalisation of land rights. The Wuchang uprising broke out on 10 October 1911 and province after province declared independence. The provisional government of the Republic of China was set up at Nanjing on 1 January 1912 with Sun as provisional president, and the Qing emperor abdicated on 12 February of the same year. (a) How many days passed between the founding of the Republic and the abdication? (2 marks) (b) Explain why the Wuchang uprising spread so quickly into a national revolution. (4 marks) (c) What role did Yuan Shikai play in early republican politics? (4 marks)	(a) From 1 January to 12 February 1912 is 42 days. (2 marks: dates 1, answer 1) (b) The Revolutionary Alliance had branches and new-army contacts across the country and had long propagandised in the Hubei new army; the Sichuan railway protection movement of 1911 drew Hubei troops westward and left Wuchang thinly garrisoned; after the rising the revolutionaries held the three Wuhan cities, and provincial assemblies and new-army officers declared independence one after another, so the Qing lost local support; the failure of the new policies and the sham constitutional cabinet of 1911 alienated the constitutionalists. (4 marks: any four points) (c) Yuan used the Beiyang army to bargain between court and revolutionaries, forcing the abdication while negotiating with the south; in March 1912 he became provisional president at Beijing and moved the capital back there, escaping the Nanjing constraints; he later dissolved parliament, crushed the second revolution, accepted the Twenty-One Demands in 1915 and made himself emperor in 1916, opening the way to warlord division. (4 marks: abdication and negotiation 1, presidency and capital 1, dictatorship and monarchy 1, warlord outcome 1)
7	The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 decided to hand German rights in Shandong to Japan. When the news reached China, Beijing students demonstrated on 4 May, and shops, factories and schools were later shut in Shanghai and elsewhere. On 28 June the Chinese delegates refused to sign the treaty. (a) How many days passed between 4 May and 28 June? (2 marks) (b) Explain the background to the May Fourth Movement. (4 marks) (c) What influence did the movement have on Chinese thought and politics? (4 marks)	(a) From 4 May to 28 June is 55 days. (2 marks: dates 1, answer 1) (b) Politically, Yuan Shikai had made himself emperor and warlords fought each other, so the republic existed in name only; diplomatically, China attended the Paris conference as a victor yet lost Shandong rights through great-power bargaining, inflaming nationalism; intellectually, the New Culture Movement promoted democracy and science and attacked Confucian ritual, with Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu pressing vernacular writing and mental emancipation; socially, modern schools and returned students had produced a politically aware young intelligentsia. (4 marks: any four points) (c) In thought, Marxism entered China, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao formed communist groups and the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921; in culture, the vernacular movement widened and new literature and journals flourished; in politics, intellectuals joined workers, making unions and mass movements a new force; mass education and womens emancipation gained attention; nationalism turned from anti-Manchu to anti-imperialist and fed the later national revolution. (4 marks: any four points)
8	On 18 September 1931 the Japanese Kwantung Army staged the Mukden incident and occupied the northeast; full war followed the Marco Polo Bridge incident of 7 July 1937; Japan announced unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. (a) How many days passed between the Marco Polo Bridge incident and the surrender announcement? (2 marks) (b) Describe how relations between the Nationalists and the Communists changed during the war. (4 marks) (c) Why was China able to sustain eight years of resistance? (4 marks)	(a) From 7 July 1937 to 15 August 1945 is 2,961 days, about eight years and one month. (2 marks: method 1, answer 1) (b) After the Xian incident of 1936 the two parties ended civil war, and in September 1937 a united front was formed, with the Red Army reorganised as the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army for operations behind Japanese lines. They fought side by side early on, at Pingxingguan and Taierzhuang, but friction grew and the New Fourth Army incident of 1941 worsened relations; after victory in 1945 the two sides clashed over surrender terms and the northeast, and civil war broke out. (4 marks: Xian and united front 2, friction 1, postwar clash 1) (c) Nationalist and patriotic appeals mobilised the whole people and cooperation avoided internal exhaustion; the Nationalist government traded space for time, moving to Chongqing and holding out from the southwest; Communist forces built base areas behind the lines and pinned down large Japanese formations; the international situation shifted, and after Pearl Harbor China fought alongside the Allies with lend-lease supplies and diplomatic support; Japanese lines were overextended and short of resources, and surrender came after the atomic bombs and Soviet entry. (4 marks: any four points)
9	The table shows grain and steel output of the PRC in selected years (million tonnes): Year　　Grain　　Steel 1952　　163.9　　1.35 1957　　195.0　　5.35 1960　　143.5　　18.66 1978　　304.8　　31.78 (a) By what percentage did grain output fall between 1957 and 1960? (1 decimal place) (3 marks) (b) In 1978 grain output was how many times the 1952 figure, and steel output how many times? (4 marks) (c) Explain why grain output fell between 1957 and 1960. (3 marks) (d) What characterised economic development in China from 1949 to 1978? (2 marks)	(a) (143.5 minus 195.0) divided by 195.0 times 100% is about minus 26.4%, that is a fall of about 26.4%. (3 marks: working 1, meaning of the negative sign 1, answer 1) (b) Grain: 304.8 divided by 163.9 is about 1.86 times. Steel: 31.78 divided by 1.35 is about 23.5 times. (4 marks: two workings 1 each, two answers 1 each) (c) The Great Leap Forward and the people communes from 1958 led to inflated reporting and excessive procurement; labour was diverted to backyard steel furnaces and fields were neglected; communisation removed private plots and side-line production, cutting peasant incentives; natural disasters in 1959 to 1961 coincided with the withdrawal of Soviet experts and demands for loan repayment, producing severe food shortages. (3 marks: any three points) (d) A planned economy dominated by public ownership, priority for heavy industry so steel grew far faster than grain; sharp fluctuations and severe setbacks from policy errors; relative closure to foreign trade and technology; slow improvement in living standards. (2 marks: any two points)
10	In December 1978 the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee decided to shift the focus of work to economic construction and to adopt reform and opening. In 1980 the special economic zones of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen were set up. (a) What main decisions did the plenum make? (3 marks) (b) What role did the special economic zones play in the reform era? (4 marks) (c) What effects did reform and opening have on Chinese society? (3 marks)	(a) It abandoned the primacy of class struggle and shifted the focus to socialist modernisation; it affirmed practice as the only test of truth and reversed unjust verdicts; it called for reforming economic management and opening to the outside world, starting with household responsibility contracts in the countryside; it restored collective leadership and party democracy. (3 marks: any three points) (b) The zones applied market-oriented policies and drew in foreign capital, technology and management know-how; as export-processing bases they earned foreign exchange through assembly and compensation trade; they served as laboratories for institutional reform, testing paid land use, labour contracts and stock markets first; they drove industrialisation in the Pearl River Delta and coastal areas and acted as windows and bridges to the outside world. (4 marks: any four points) (c) Communes were abolished in the countryside, farm incomes and grain output rose, and township enterprises absorbed surplus labour; urban state enterprise reform and private business created self-employed traders and foreign firms and diversified employment; huge population flows to coastal cities accelerated urbanisation and exposed household registration and regional gaps; foreign contacts grew, consumption and lifestyles changed and social attitudes turned pragmatic and open. (3 marks: any three points)

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