HKDSE Chinese History Practice Paper: Politics And Cultural Exchange From Qin And Han To Sui And Tang (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes, With Answers)

HKDSE Chinese History Practice Paper: Politics and Cultural Exchange from Qin and Han to Sui and Tang (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes, with Answers)

2026-11-04

HKDSE Chinese History: Qin, Han, Sui and Tang politics, institutions and cultural exchange

HKDSE Chinese History paper: Qin and Han centralisation, Confucian ideology, the Nine Rank system, Sui and Tang institutions, imperial examinations, Silk Road and the An Lushan rebellion.

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Section A: Qin and Han Political Institutions (32 marks)

Section A: Qin and Han Political Institutions

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	Source A: After unifying the empire, the First Emperor of Qin divided the realm into thirty-six commanderies, each with a governor, a commandant and an inspector. (a) Identify two measures of centralisation that the Qin adopted at court and in the provinces. (4 marks) (b) Explain two advantages of the commandery system over enfeoffment for local government. (4 marks)	Answer: (a) At court, the emperor system concentrating all authority, plus the Three Lords and Nine Ministers sharing duties and checking one another. In the provinces, enfeoffment was abolished for commanderies, whose governors were appointed and dismissed by the centre, with governor, commandant and inspector holding civil, military and supervisory powers. (b) Officials were appointed rather than hereditary, so local separatism was checked; central orders reached the provinces directly, raising administrative efficiency; and officials rose by merit, giving policy greater continuity. Marking: one point each for court and province; two marks per explained advantage.
2	Qin unified China in 221 BC and fell in 207 BC, lasting only 14 years. (a) State three causes of the rapid collapse of the Qin. (6 marks) (b) Which of these causes was the most important? Explain your view. (2 marks)	Answer: (a) Heavy corvee and taxes for the Great Wall, Epang Palace and the mausoleum; harsh law with collective punishment, which bred resentment; the former nobles of the six states cherished hopes of restoration; and the weak Second Emperor with Zhao Gao monopolising court left government corrupt. (b) Any reasoned choice, for example exhaustion of the people: without a period of recuperation, revolt spread from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang and the empire collapsed within months. Marking: two marks per cause with explanation; vague answers such as tyranny alone earn 0 to 1; one mark for a position, one for the explanation.
3	In the early Han, the court partly restored enfeoffment, having learned from the isolation of Qin. (a) Describe the arrangement of kingdoms and commanderies in the early Han. (4 marks) (b) What political problems did this arrangement create under Emperors Wen and Jing? Give one example. (4 marks)	Answer: (a) Some regions were organised as commanderies under the central government, while others were granted to imperial princes as kingdoms that could levy taxes and appoint officials, so commanderies and fiefs existed side by side. (b) The kings grew too strong and threatened the throne: under Emperor Wen the kings of Huainan and Jibei rebelled, and under Emperor Jing the seven kingdoms of Wu and Chu rose in the name of clearing the ruler side, nearly overthrowing the Han. Marking: two marks for commanderies, two for kingdoms; two marks for the problem, two for the example.
4	Under Emperor Wu of Han, Zhufu Yan advised allowing kings to divide their lands among their sons. (a) How did the Reduce Favours Decree weaken the vassal kings? (4 marks) (b) What were the roles of the thirteen regional inspectors and the inner court? (4 marks)	Answer: (a) Each king was allowed to divide his land among his sons as marquises, so kingdoms fragmented into small marquisates attached to the centre; the measure looked like a favour yet, as the histories put it, the vassal states split themselves without any demotion by the court. (b) The thirteen inspectors supervised commandery officials and local magnates under six fixed clauses, tightening central control; the inner court of secretaries and attendants took over decision making, reducing the outer court led by the chancellor and concentrating power in the throne. Marking: two marks each for the decree and for its fragmenting effect; two marks each for inspectors and inner court.

Section B: Thought, Recruitment and Cultural Exchange (36 marks)

Section B: Thought, Recruitment and Cultural Exchange

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	Soon after Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, the Confucian scholars Zhao Wan and Wang Zang were promoted. (a) State three concrete measures by which Emperor Wu promoted Confucianism. (6 marks) (b) What impact did the elevation of Confucianism have on Han government and on the careers of scholars? (3 marks)	Answer: (a) He rejected the other schools and honoured the Six Classics, creating chairs for the Five Classics; he founded the Imperial Academy with erudite scholars and their students, recruiting on the classics; and he promoted Confucian scholars such as Gongsun Hong to high office, dressing practical administration in Confucian terms. (b) Confucianism became the official ideology and the standard for recruitment, so families treasured the classics above gold, scholarly lineages emerged and the route to office through the canon opened, setting the pattern of Confucian statecraft for two thousand years. Marking: two marks per measure; two marks for either the political or the career angle, one for detail.
6	Under Emperor Wen of Wei, Chen Qun introduced the Nine Rank system for selecting officials. (a) Describe how the Nine Rank system operated. (5 marks) (b) Why did it turn from a device for choosing the worthy into a tool of aristocratic monopoly? (4 marks)	Answer: (a) Each province and commandery appointed a grand or minor impartial judge, usually a central official of local origin; the judge graded men into nine ranks by family standing, conduct and ability, and the report went to the Ministry of Personnel as the basis for appointment, revised every three years. (b) The judges were drawn from great families, so assessment came to stress pedigree over merit; from the Wei and Jin onward the upper ranks went to the powerful houses and the lower to the obscure, and the system became an instrument of aristocratic monopoly. Marking: two marks for judges, two for grading, one for appointment; two marks for the stress on pedigree, two for the result.
7	After moving the capital to Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei carried out thorough sinicisation. (a) State three measures of Emperor Xiaowen sinicisation. (6 marks) (b) Explain two historical significances of these reforms. (3 marks)	Answer: (a) He moved the capital to Luoyang, away from the old tribal base; he changed Xianbei surnames to Chinese ones, forbade Xianbei dress and speech in court and required Chinese; and he adopted Chinese institutions, founded schools and encouraged marriage between Xianbei nobles and Chinese gentry families. (b) Sinicisation hastened the assimilation of the Xianbei and prepared the social ground for Sui and Tang unification; but the radical pace angered conservative nobles, and the plot of the crown prince and the revolts of the six garrisons followed, turning Northern Wei from strength to decline. Marking: two marks per measure; up to three marks for significance, full marks when both sides are given.
8	In Tang Chang’an, foreign merchants lived alongside Chinese residents, and a maritime trade commissioner was posted at Guangzhou. Japan sent embassies to Tang more than ten times. (a) State three conditions or signs of the flourishing foreign communications of the Tang. (6 marks) (b) Using the Japanese embassies or Xuanzang journey to India, explain one effect of Tang cultural exchange. (3 marks)	Answer: (a) The overland Silk Road was kept open, with the Anxi and Beiting protectorates guarding the western routes; sea routes ran from Guangzhou and Yangzhou under a maritime trade commissioner; Chang’an and Luoyang were cosmopolitan capitals full of foreign merchants, monks and students; and the government followed an open and tolerant policy. (b) The Japanese embassies carried back Tang law and the equal field system, modelled the capital on Chang’an and derived the kana syllabaries from Chinese characters, while Xuanzang brought scriptures home, translated them and founded a school of Buddhist thought, enriching Sino-Indian exchange. Marking: two marks per condition; two for the facts and one for the effect in (b).

Section C: Sui and Tang Institutions, Rise and Decline (32 marks)

Section C: Sui and Tang Institutions, Rise and Decline

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	Emperor Wen of Sui conquered Chen in 581, ending the division since the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties. The Sui fell to the Tang in 618, lasting 37 years. (a) Identify two institutional measures by which the Sui consolidated unity and strengthened central power. (4 marks) (b) Explain two functions of the Grand Canal for Sui and Tang rule. (4 marks)	Answer: (a) The Three Departments and Six Ministries divided drafting, scrutiny and execution, each checking the others; the Nine Rank system was abolished and officials chosen by examination, beginning the imperial examination; and provinces and commanderies were merged into a two tier local system with redundant posts cut. (b) The canal linked north and south, carrying grain and cloth from the Yangzi region to the capital; it moved troops and supplies quickly, tightening control over the south and the north-east and consolidating unity; and it fostered commercial towns and cultural exchange along its course. Marking: two marks per measure; two marks per function with reasoning.
10	Emperor Taizong of Tang once said that history is a mirror for the rise and fall of states. (a) State three reasons for the Zhenguan era of good government. (6 marks) (b) Assess one effect of Taizong willingness to accept remonstrance. (2 marks)	Answer: (a) After the disorder of the late Sui, Taizong rested the people, lightened taxes and corvee and maintained the equal field and zu yong diao taxes; he welcomed remonstrance, with Wei Zheng speaking bluntly, so policy errors were corrected; he appointed by ability regardless of faction, as with Wei Zheng and Ma Zhou; and he refined the Three Departments, the Six Ministries and the examinations, keeping government and law relatively clean. (b) Remonstrance let the ruler hear his own faults and avoid ruinous sole decision; with many critics at court, ruler and ministers governed together, and the era was praised as a model of good government. Marking: two marks per reason; one mark for the effect, one for the assessment.
11	In the Tang imperial examination, the jinshi and mingjing degrees were the most prestigious; Empress Wu added the palace examination and the military examination. (a) Describe two institutional developments of the Tang imperial examination. (4 marks) (b) What effects did the examination have on social mobility and on the distribution of political power? (4 marks)	Answer: (a) The examinations offered the jinshi and mingjing degrees, selecting by test instead of aristocratic grading; Empress Wu conducted the palace examination in person, opened the military examination and expanded special decrees, so the power to select officials lay wholly with the centre. (b) Sons of poor families could enter office by talent, further weakening the great clans and increasing social mobility; candidates gathered in the capital and formed a bureaucratic class that enabled the throne to curb the gentry, though it also bred factions and patron-client ties. Marking: two marks per development; two marks for mobility, two for the distribution of power.
12	In the Tianbao era, An Lushan held the military commands of Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong at the same time. (a) State three causes of the An Lushan rebellion. (6 marks) (b) What was one far-reaching effect of the rebellion on Tang fortunes? (2 marks)	Answer: (a) The militia system decayed and was replaced by recruitment, so military governors held military, financial and civil power and the frontier commands grew overmighty; ministers such as Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong monopolised court and excluded rivals, corrupting government; Emperor Xuanzong in his later years doted on Consort Yang and neglected affairs; and suspicion grew between the mixed frontier armies and the centre. (b) Military governors then ruled their regions as fiefdoms, the authority of the centre shrank and revenue was withheld locally, leading eventually to the partition of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms; the Tang passed from strength to decline, with population loss and a southward shift of the economic centre. Marking: two marks per cause; two marks for a specific effect.

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