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HKDSE Chinese History Paper 1 Data-based Questions practice paper (4 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours)
HKDSE Chinese History Paper 1
HKDSE Chinese History Paper 1 data-based practice paper: 4 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours, with question and answer PDFs and marking notes.
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Paper details Level: HKDSE | Subject: Chinese History | Paper 1 Data-based Questions | Time: 2 hours | Marks: 100 | Questions: 4
Answer all 4 questions. Total: 100 marks. Time allowed: 2 hours. Quote the data, show your working and give units. This is an original TutorZone practice paper, not a paper or marking scheme of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
Section A (Questions 1 and 2, 50 marks): from Qin-Han to Sui-Tang.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Data 1: numbers of commanderies/kingdoms and counties under the Qin, Western Han (Emperor Ping) and Eastern Han (Emperor Shun) Qin: 36 commanderies, about 1,000 counties Western Han, Emperor Ping: 103 commanderies and kingdoms, 1,314 counties Eastern Han, Emperor Shun: 105 commanderies and kingdoms, 1,180 counties (a) Using Data 1, how many counties did each Qin commandery hold on average? Give one decimal place. (5 marks) (b) Calculate the average number of counties per commandery or kingdom for Western Han (Emperor Ping) and Eastern Han (Emperor Shun) to one decimal place, and state the direction of change. (6 marks) (c) By what percentage did the number of commanderies and kingdoms increase from the Qin to Western Han (Emperor Ping)? One decimal place. (6 marks) (d) Emperor Wu of Han introduced the Order of Gracious Favour (tui en ling). Starting from 12 kingdoms, if each king enfeoffs 3 of his sons as marquises in every generation, work out the total number of kingdoms and marquisates after two generations, and explain how the measure weakened the kings. (8 marks) (25 marks) |
Marking notes: (a) 1,000 counties / 36 commanderies = 27.78, i.e. 27.8 counties per commandery (2 marks working, 2 marks answer, 1 mark unit). (b) Western Han: 1,314 / 103 = 12.76 (12.8); Eastern Han: 1,180 / 105 = 11.24 (11.2). 2 marks each; 2 marks for noting that the Eastern Han average was lower, i.e. units were subdivided further. (c) (103 – 36) / 36 x 100% = 186.1%; 3 marks working, 2 marks answer, 1 mark for stating it is an increase. (d) Generation 1: 12 x 3 = 36; generation 2: 36 x 3 = 108, giving 108 in total, 9 times the original. 2 marks for each generation (4 marks); 4 marks for explaining that each kingdom had to be divided among all sons, so individual holdings shrank and no single king could challenge the centre, while marquisates came under commandery administration and further measures such as the tribute-gold rules and the affiliated-marquisate laws stripped noble titles. |
| 2 | Data 2: Tang equal-field system and the zu-yong-diao tax An adult male received 100 mu: 20 mu of hereditary land and 80 mu of personal land Grain tax (zu): 2 shi; cloth levy (diao): 2 zhang of silk; labour service (yong): 20 days a year, commutable at 3 chi of silk per day (Tang measures: 1 pi = 4 zhang = 40 chi; 1 shi = 120 jin) Data 3: Tang registered households Tianbao 14: 9,069,154 households, 52,880,488 persons Guangde 2: 2,933,125 households (a) According to Data 2, what percentage of an adult male holding was hereditary land? (5 marks) (b) A county has 3,000 adult males, all paying the grain tax. How much grain is collected in a year in shi, and how many jin is that? (6 marks) (c) If one adult male commutes the whole year labour service into silk, how many chi, zhang and pi must he pay? (6 marks) (d) Using Data 3, what was the average household size in Tianbao 14 (two decimal places)? By what percentage did households fall between Tianbao 14 and Guangde 2 (one decimal place)? Using Data 2 and 3, explain the impact of the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763, 8 years) on the Tang tax system. (8 marks) (25 marks) |
Marking notes: (a) 20 / 100 x 100% = 20%; 2 marks working, 2 marks answer, 1 mark unit. (b) 3,000 x 2 = 6,000 shi (3 marks); 6,000 x 120 = 720,000 jin (3 marks, units required). (c) 20 x 3 = 60 chi (2 marks) = 6.0 zhang (2 marks) = 1.5 pi (2 marks); 60 chi alone earns 2 marks. (d) 52,880,488 / 9,069,154 = 5.83 persons per household (2 marks); (9,069,154 – 2,933,125) / 9,069,154 x 100% = 67.7% (3 marks). Impact, 3 marks: war sharply reduced registered households, there was little land left to distribute, and a per-capita tax could not be sustained, so in 780 the court adopted the two-tax system based on assets and land rather than on adult males. |
Section B (Questions 3 and 4, 50 marks): from Song-Yuan to Ming-Qing and modern China.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Data 4: Song paper money and maritime trade revenue In 1023 the government took over the Yizhou jiaozi office; each issue (one jie) was 1,256,340 guan and circulated for 3 years In the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song, maritime trade revenue was about 200 million guan against annual revenue of about 6,000 million guan Data 5: Yuan provinces The Yuan set up 10 branch secretariats (xing zhongshu sheng); each averaged 20 circuits. The Yuan empire covered about 2,400 million square kilometres and the Qing empire about 1,300 million (a) Using Data 4, how many guan did the government issue on average each year? (5 marks) (b) Using Data 4, what percentage of annual revenue came from maritime trade, to two decimal places? (6 marks) (c) Using Data 5, how many circuits did the Yuan provinces govern in total? How many times larger was the Yuan empire than the Qing, and what was the difference in million square kilometres? (6 marks) (d) Using Data 4 and 5, explain how Song commercial growth and the Yuan provincial system respectively strengthened the governance of the state. (8 marks) (25 marks) |
Marking notes: (a) 1,256,340 / 3 = 418,780 guan a year; 2 marks working, 2 marks answer, 1 mark unit. (b) 200 / 6,000 x 100% = 3.33%; 3 marks working, 2 marks answer, 1 mark percentage sign. (c) 10 x 20 = 200 circuits (2 marks); 2,400 / 1,300 = 1.85 times (2 marks); difference 1,100 million square kilometres (2 marks). (d) Song, 4 marks: paper money replaced heavy iron coinage, lowering the cost of long-distance exchange; note issuance spread beyond Chengdu, trade expanded and maritime revenue became a major fiscal source, managed through the maritime trade offices with levies and monopsony purchases. Yuan, 4 marks: branch secretariats were standing regional administrations answerable to the Secretariat, with appointed and rotated officials concentrating military, financial and civil authority under the centre; together with the postal relay system and darughachi supervision they tightened control over a vast territory and were retained in modified form by the Ming and Qing. |
| 4 | Data 6: Ming voyages and late Qing treaty indemnities Zheng He sailed 1405 times between 1433 and 7 Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895): indemnity of 200,000,000 taels of Kuping silver plus a Liaodong retrocession payment of 30,000,000 taels; Qing annual revenue that year was about 80,000,000 taels Boxer Protocol (1901): indemnity of 450,000,000 taels, payable over 39 years at 4 per cent a year (simple interest, principal not reduced) Treaty of Nanjing (1842): indemnity of 21,000,000 silver dollars (a) How many years did the seven voyages span, and how many years apart were they on average? (5 marks) (b) Using Data 6, what was the total under the Treaty of Shimonoseki including the retrocession payment, and roughly how many years of Qing revenue was that (three decimal places)? (6 marks) (c) Using simple interest with no reduction of principal, what was the total payable under the Boxer indemnity, and how much of it was interest? (7 marks) (d) Using Data 6, compare what the Ming voyages and the late Qing indemnities reveal about the standing of the state, and explain the effect of the indemnities on the late Qing reforms and the revolution. (7 marks) (25 marks) |
Marking notes: (a) 1433 – 1405 = 28 years (3 marks); 28 / 7 = 4.0 years apart (2 marks). (b) 200,000,000 + 30,000,000 = 230,000,000 taels (3 marks); 230,000,000 / 80,000,000 = 2.875 years (3 marks, “about” required). (c) total = 450,000,000 x (1 + 4% x 39) = 450,000,000 x 2.6 = 1,152,000,000 taels (5 marks); interest = 1,152,000,000 – 450,000,000 = 702,000,000 taels (2 marks). (d) Ming, 3 marks: the voyages projected imperial prestige and built a tribute network under official control of overseas trade, and were later abandoned as too costly, showing an assertive early Ming state. Late Qing, 2 marks: the three treaties imposed successive indemnities far beyond annual revenue (Shimonoseki alone about 2.875 years of revenue), turning China from a self-styled central kingdom into a state paying damages with sovereignty under pressure. Effect, 2 marks: foreign loans and new levies drained the treasury, which pushed forward the late Qing reforms such as abolishing the examinations, creating new armies and commercial ministries, while also deepening popular grievance and local disaffection that fed the revolution. |
A TutorZone practice paper; original questions and passages, not publisher material.
