HKDSE History Paper 1 data-based questions practice paper

2026-10-31

HKDSE History Paper 1

HKDSE History Paper 1 data-based mock: 4 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours, on Hong Kong treaties, the Boxer indemnity, Versailles, the world wars and post-1945 Hong Kong, with question and answer PDFs.

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Paper details　Level: S6 | Subject: History | Time: 2 hours | Marks: 100 | Questions: 4

Section A: Hong Kong and modern China (Questions 1-2, 50 marks)

Each question carries 25 marks. Cite the sources in your answers.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	Source A: The Treaty of Nanking (1842) ceded Hong Kong Island (about 78 km2); the Convention of Peking (1860) ceded Kowloon (about 47 km2); the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898) leased the New Territories and outlying islands for 99 years (about 975 km2). (a) Calculate the total area of the three cessions and express the share of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories as percentages (1 decimal place). (12 marks) (b) In which year did the New Territories lease begin, and in which year did it expire? (4 marks) (c) Explain two reasons why Britain sought the lease of the New Territories in 1898. (9 marks)	(a) Total = 78 + 47 + 975 = 1,100 km2 (4 marks). Hong Kong Island 78 / 1,100 x 100% = 7.1% (3 marks); Kowloon 47 / 1,100 x 100% = 4.3% (3 marks); New Territories 975 / 1,100 x 100% = 88.6% (2 marks). The three shares should add up to about 100% (allow 0.1%). (b) The lease began on 1 July 1898 (2 marks) and expired 99 years later, on 30 June 1997 (2 marks). (c) Defence: Hong Kong Island and Kowloon lacked a hinterland, so Britain wanted the land south of the Shenzhen River to protect Victoria Harbour (3 marks). Imperial rivalry: in the late nineteenth century Russia, France and Germany obtained leased territories in China, and Britain feared falling behind, so it took the New Territories on defence grounds while extending its sphere of influence in South China (4 marks). Credit may also be given for water supply, farmland and the railway corridor (2 marks).
2	Source B: The Boxer Protocol (1901) required China to pay an indemnity of 450 million taels of silver with interest at 4% per annum, repaid over 39 years and secured on the customs and salt revenues. (a) Calculate the average annual repayment of principal in taels (to the nearest tael). (6 marks) (b) Calculate the interest payable in the first year and the total first-year payment. (8 marks) (c) If a province is assigned 20% of the annual repayment, calculate its annual payment and its total principal burden over 39 years. (6 marks) (d) Explain one effect of securing the indemnity on the customs and salt revenues on China’s fiscal sovereignty. (5 marks)	(a) Annual principal = 450,000,000 / 39 = 11,538,461.5, i.e. 11,538,462 taels (6 marks: 3 for the method, 3 for the answer; deduct 1 mark if not rounded to a whole tael). (b) First-year interest = 450,000,000 x 4% = 18,000,000 taels (4 marks). Total first-year payment = 11,538,462 + 18,000,000 = 29,538,462 taels (4 marks). (c) Annual principal share = 11,538,462 x 20% = 2,307,692 taels (3 marks); 39-year total = 2,307,692 x 39 = 89,999,988 taels, about 90 million taels (3 marks). (d) Customs and salt revenue were the most reliable large sources of Qing income (1 mark). Foreign powers supervised collection and deposited the proceeds in foreign banks, so China lost the power to set tariffs and to use the revenue freely (3 marks); later loans were secured on the same revenue, weakening fiscal sovereignty further (1 mark).

Section B: Twentieth-century international relations and Hong Kong (Questions 3-4, 50 marks)

Each question carries 25 marks. Use the data in your answers.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
3	Source C: After the Treaty of Versailles (1919), German territory fell from 540,858 km2 to 468,787 km2, and about 7,000,000 German speakers (out of a population of about 65,000,000) were placed under neighbouring states. Source D: Military deaths in the First World War: Germany 2,037,000; France 1,398,000; Britain 723,000; United States 114,000; Italy 651,000. (a) Calculate the territory Germany lost and the percentage lost (1 decimal place). (8 marks) (b) Calculate the German-speaking population placed under neighbouring states as a percentage of the national population (1 decimal place). (5 marks) (c) Calculate the total military deaths in Source D and the shares of Germany and Britain (1 decimal place). (7 marks) (d) Using your answers to (a) to (c), explain how the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the long-term causes of the Second World War. (5 marks)	(a) Territory lost = 540,858 – 468,787 = 72,071 km2 (4 marks). Percentage = 72,071 / 540,858 x 100% = 13.3% (4 marks: 2 for the method, 2 for the answer). (b) 7,000,000 / 65,000,000 x 100% = 10.8% (3 marks for the method, 2 for the answer). This created the “lost Germans” issue used by Germany to demand treaty revision. (c) Total = 2,037,000 + 1,398,000 + 723,000 + 114,000 + 651,000 = 4,923,000 (4 marks). Germany = 2,037,000 / 4,923,000 x 100% = 41.4% (2 marks); Britain = 723,000 / 4,923,000 x 100% = 14.7% (1 mark). (d) Germany suffered territorial loss, a divided population and heavy reparations while recording the highest military deaths (41.4%), so the “stab in the back” myth and demands for revenge spread widely (2 marks). Unilateral disarmament and the war-guilt clause humiliated Germany and undermined the Weimar Republic, giving extreme nationalist parties room to grow (3 marks); after the 1929 Depression, reparations became a rallying cry for the Nazi Party, leading to war in 1939.
4	Source E: Population of Hong Kong: about 600,000 in 1945; about 2,200,000 in 1950; 3,133,000 in 1961; 3,936,000 in 1971; 5,183,000 in 1981. In 1981 manufacturing employed 905,000 of a total workforce of 2,400,000. (a) Calculate the population growth rate from 1945 to 1950 and give one historical reason for the rapid increase. (8 marks) (b) Calculate the growth rates from 1961 to 1971 and from 1971 to 1981 (1 decimal place) and compare the speed of the two periods. (7 marks) (c) Calculate manufacturing employment as a percentage of the total workforce in 1981 (1 decimal place). (4 marks) (d) Using your answers to (a) to (c), evaluate the claim that industrialisation was the main engine of Hong Kong’s economic transformation from the 1950s to the 1980s. (6 marks)	(a) Growth = (2,200,000 – 600,000) / 600,000 x 100% = 266.7% (4 marks: 2 for the method, 2 for the answer), i.e. the population became about 3.67 times larger. Reason: residents returned after the end of Japanese occupation, and refugees arrived during the Chinese Civil War and after 1949 (2 marks for any valid point, up to 4 marks with explanation). (b) 1961-1971: (3,936,000 – 3,133,000) / 3,133,000 x 100% = 25.6% (3 marks); 1971-1981: (5,183,000 – 3,936,000) / 3,936,000 x 100% = 31.7% (3 marks). Growth was faster in the second period (1 mark), linked to more arrivals in the late 1970s and still high natural increase. (c) 905,000 / 2,400,000 x 100% = 37.7% (2 marks for the method, 2 for the answer). (d) A clear position is required (1 mark). Support: manufacturing absorbed 37.7% of employment, and labour-intensive textiles, plastics and toys from the 1950s absorbed the new arrivals while export-led industrialisation raised incomes (3 marks). Limits: population grew 25%-32% in the same decades, so domestic demand, construction and re-export trade also supported growth; from the late 1970s finance and shipping grew faster, so the claim applies mainly to the 1950s-1970s (2 marks).

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