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HKDSE Chinese History Practice Paper: From Qin-Han to the Republic (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes)
HKDSE Chinese History: From Qin-Han to the Republic
HKDSE Chinese History paper: 12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes. Qin-Han unification, Tang institutions, Song-Qing centralisation, late Qing treaties, the 1911 Revolution.
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Paper details Level: S6 | Subject: Chinese History | Time: 75 minutes | Marks: 100 | Questions: 12
Section A: Qin-Han Unification and Tang Institutions (32 marks)
Answer ALL questions in this section. Give dates with your points.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Qin state unified China in 221 BC and the dynasty fell in 207 BC. (a) Calculate how many years the Qin dynasty lasted. (b) Explain two reasons for its rapid collapse, one institutional and one in governance. (8 marks) | (a) 221 minus 207 = 14 years. (b) Institutional: the commandery and county system replaced hereditary fiefs, concentrating power in the emperor, but the dispossessed nobles of the former states resented it; script, weights and measures were unified too quickly for the regions to absorb. Governance: corvee labour for the Great Wall, imperial roads, the Epang Palace and the mausoleum overstretched the peasantry; laws were harsh with collective punishment; the Second Emperor was weak while Zhao Gao monopolised the court. Marking: 2 marks for the calculation, 3 for each explained factor. |
| 2 | (a) Name the measure Han Wudi introduced to weaken the power of the kingdoms and describe how it worked. (b) Describe two other institutions he used to tighten control over the regions and explain their effects. (8 marks) | (a) The “grace of the emperor” order (tuien ling): apart from the eldest son who inherited the title, all other sons of a king were also enfeoffed as marquises, so each kingdom split its own territory and lost strength. (b) The inspectorate (cishi) divided the empire into thirteen provinces whose inspectors reported directly to the emperor on officials and powerful families; state monopoly of salt and iron with price-equalising sales drained the wealth of regional merchants; and the exclusive patronage of Confucianism gave the court a unified ideology and a loyal bureaucracy. Marking: 3 marks for the first measure, 2 marks for each additional institution. |
| 3 | Which city was the centre of the Grand Canal built in the Sui dynasty? How many sections did it have? Name two of them and explain two functions the canal served for the Sui and Tang governments. (8 marks) | The canal centred on Luoyang and had 4 sections: the Yongji, Tongji, Hangou and Jiangnan channels. Functions: it carried grain and goods from the south to the capitals in Guanzhong and Luoyang; it linked north and south for trade and cultural exchange and consolidated control over the south; and it speeded the movement of troops and orders, strengthening central military reach. Marking: 2 marks for the centre, 3 for the sections, 1.5 for each function. |
| 4 | Under the Tang Three Departments and Six Ministries, the three departments comprised 3 bodies and the six ministries 6 offices. (a) Name the three departments and their duties. (b) Explain how this structure checked power. The Tang lasted 289 years. (8 marks) | (a) The Secretariat (Zhongshu) drafted edicts; the Chancellery (Menxia) reviewed and could reject them; the Department of State Affairs (Shangshu) executed policy through the six ministries of personnel, revenue, rites, war, justice and works, 6 in total. (b) Drafting, review and execution sat in three separate bodies, so no single office could decide and enforce at will; the chancellery could return an improper edict, and even the emperor had to follow the procedure, reducing arbitrary rule. The formula shaped later central government for the 289 years of the dynasty and beyond. Marking: 4 marks for the three departments, 4 for the checks. |
Section B: Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Centralisation (36 marks)
Answer ALL four questions. Compare point by point where asked.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | (a) Give two specific measures that show the Song policy of favouring civil officials over the military. (b) Analyse two consequences of this policy for Northern Song defence and finance. (9 marks) | (a) At a drinking party the founding emperor bought back the military commands of his generals; prefectures were placed under civil officials with a supervising assistant, and the Privy Council controlled deployment while the three commands controlled training, splitting military authority; standing armies also absorbed rootless men. (b) Defence suffered because commanders and troops did not know each other, and campaigns against the Liao and Western Xia failed while annual payments drained the treasury; redundant soldiers, officials and expenses produced chronic deficits that provoked Wang Anshi’s reforms. Marking: 2.5 marks per measure, 2 marks per consequence. |
| 6 | The Yuan government set up 10 branch secretariats (xing zhongshu sheng) across the country, apart from the metropolitan region. (a) Describe their powers. (b) Analyse their influence on later local administration. (9 marks) | (a) The branch secretariat was the highest regional administration, handling military affairs, taxation, garrison farming and appraisal of officials under centrally appointed heads, with 10 such provinces; important matters went to the central secretariat. (b) It brought local power into the central bureaucratic system and strengthened control of a vast empire; boundaries cut across natural regions, weakening the base for separatism; the framework was continued by the Ming and Qing and shaped the modern province. Marking: 4 marks for powers, 5 for influence. |
| 7 | The Ming lasted 276 years and the Qing 268 years, and each centralised power differently. (a) Compare the nature of the Ming Grand Secretariat and the Qing Grand Council. (b) Explain how similar and how different their effects on imperial power were. (9 marks) | (a) The Ming Grand Secretariat began as a secretarial group of grand secretaries who drafted opinions for the emperor and had no statutory power to decide, since the final rescript was the emperor’s; the Qing Grand Council was a body of grand councillors who knelt, took notes and drafted edicts on imperial instruction, an ad hoc duty rather than a formal ministry. (b) Both were informal and kept decision-making with the throne; the council worked faster and more secretly and the emperor decided in person, so Qing centralisation went further than Ming. The Ming ruled 276 years and the Qing 268. Marking: 3 marks each, 3 for comparison. |
| 8 | (a) Describe the source of topics and the formal requirements of the eight-legged essay in Ming and Qing examinations. (b) Evaluate its positive and negative effects on those societies. (9 marks) | (a) Topics came from the Four Books and Five Classics and had to follow the approved commentaries of Zhu Xi; the answer was an eight-legged essay moving through breaking the topic,transition, opening discussion, entry, and the four paired legs, with fixed length and parallelism. (b) Positively it offered a comparatively fair ladder of advancement and a shared Confucian culture; negatively it restricted candidates to classical exegesis, discouraged independent thought and practical knowledge, and produced a narrow officialdom. Marking: 4 marks for requirements, 5 for evaluation. |
Section C: Late Qing Treaties, Reform and the 1911 Revolution (32 marks)
Answer ALL questions. Balance both sides in evaluative parts.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | The Treaty of Nanjing was signed in 1842 and the Convention of Beijing in 1860. (a) Calculate the interval in years. (b) Compare the territorial cessions in the two treaties, and state the provisions on the indemnity of 2100 thousand silver dollars and the 5 treaty ports. (8 marks) | (a) 1860 minus 1842 = 18 years. (b) Nanjing ceded Hong Kong Island; Beijing ceded the Kowloon peninsula south of Boundary Street and raised the indemnity to eight million taels. Nanjing also provided an indemnity of 2100 thousand silver dollars, opened 5 ports – Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai – allowed residence and trade, and fixed tariffs by agreement. Marking: 2 marks for the interval, 3 for the cessions, 3 for the remaining terms. |
| 10 | The Self-Strengthening Movement ran from 1861 to 1895, a total of 34 years. (a) Name two military industries set up by its leaders. (b) Analyse three reasons why the movement failed. (8 marks) | (a) The Jiangnan Arsenal, the Fuzhou Navy Yard, the Jinling Machine Bureau and the Tianjin Machine Bureau. (b) Leaders copied western technology without changing the autocratic system or education; official enterprises were corrupt, inefficient and dependent on foreign engineers and materials; funds were diverted and there was no overall plan; and defeat by Japan in 1895 destroyed the results after 34 years. Marking: up to 3 marks for industries, about 1.7 for each reason. |
| 11 | The Hundred Days Reform began on 11 June 1898 and ended on 21 September 1898, 102 days apart. (a) State two reform measures. (b) Analyse why the reform failed. (8 marks) | (a) The eight-legged essay was abolished in favour of policy essays; the Imperial University and modern schools were founded; redundant offices were cut; a new army was drilled; industry and agriculture were promoted. (b) The empress dowager staged a coup, imprisoned the emperor and restored conservatives; reform threatened entrenched interests and provoked backlash; the reformers had no army or popular base and relied on an emperor without real power; foreign powers gave no support. The episode lasted 102 days. Marking: 4 marks for measures, 4 for reasons. |
| 12 | The Wuchang Uprising broke out on 10 October 1911 and the Qing emperor abdicated on 12 February 1912, 125 days apart. (a) Describe the main political changes in that period. (b) Explain two political principles embodied in the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. (8 marks) | (a) 125 days apart. Provinces declared independence after the uprising and Qing authority collapsed; north-south negotiations followed, Sun Yat-sen was elected provisional president and the republic was founded on 1 January 1912; Yuan Shikai pressed the emperor to abdicate, ending the monarchy and turning autocracy into a republic. (b) Popular sovereignty, with a senate drafting the constitution and citizens enjoying freedoms of speech and assembly; separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers; and a responsible cabinet whose ministers had to countersign presidential orders, limiting the president. Marking: 4 marks for the period, 2 for each principle. |
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