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Form 4 History Practice Paper: Hong Kong, Modern China and the Two World Wars (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes)
Form 4 History – 12 questions – 100 marks – 75 minutes
Form 4 History practice paper: 12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes on Hong Kong cession and lease, the treaty system, the 1911 revolution and the two world wars.
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Paper details Form 4 History practice paper with 12 structured questions covering the Treaty of Nanking, the Convention of Peking, the 1898 lease of the New Territories to the 1997 handover, colonial Chinese society, the Japanese occupation, post-war industrialisation, extraterritoriality, the Wuchang uprising, the May Fourth Movement, the war of resistance against Japan, the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, the Second World War, the Cold War and the United Nations, with full mark-scheme answers.
Section A: Hong Kong History (Q1-Q4, 34 marks)
Answer all questions in full sentences and support every point with specific historical facts.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1. The territory of Hong Kong was built up by three treaties. (a) Which territory was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842? (3 marks) (b) Which part of the Kowloon Peninsula was ceded by the Convention of Peking in 1860? (3 marks) (c) Under the 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory the New Territories were leased for 99 years; find the year the lease expired and state the major event of that year. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) The Treaty of Nanking ceded Hong Kong Island. (1 mark) (b) The Convention of Peking ceded the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, south of Boundary Street, together with Stonecutters Island. (1 mark) (c) 1898 + 99 = 1997; the lease expired in 1997, the year of the handover, when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was established. (1 mark) Marking note: both the year and the event must be correct. |
| 2 | 2. In the nineteenth century the Chinese community in Hong Kong governed its own affairs through associations and charities. (a) In which year was Tung Wah Hospital founded, and what were its main services? (3 marks) (b) What was the main function of Po Leung Kuk, founded in 1878? (2 marks) (c) The Chinese were the great majority yet took little part in government; give two examples of how they managed their own affairs. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Tung Wah Hospital was founded in 1870 (1 mark) and provided free Chinese medicine, in-patient care, disaster relief and burial services (2 marks). (b) Po Leung Kuk protected abducted women and children and offered shelter and vocational training (2 marks). (c) Example one: charities such as Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk relieved poverty and sickness (1 mark); example two: district associations, chambers of commerce and watchmen kept order and settled disputes (1 mark); Chinese leaders served as charity directors but had very few seats in the Legislative Council, which shows unequal treatment (1 mark). |
| 3 | 3. Governor Mark Young surrendered to Japanese forces on 25 December 1941, and Japan announced its surrender on 15 August 1945. (a) Find the length of the occupation in months and express it in years and months. (3 marks) (b) Explain the aim and the consequences of the repatriation policy of the Japanese authorities. (3 marks) (c) State two long-term effects of the occupation on Hong Kong society. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) (1945 – 1941) x 12 + (8 – 12) = 48 – 4 = 44 months, that is 3 years and 8 months. (3 marks: 1 for the working, 1 for the figure, 1 for the years-and-months form) (b) Aim: food was scarce, so the authorities forced residents back to the mainland to cut the food burden (1 mark); result: the population fell from about 1.6 million to about 600 000, industry and trade stopped, and people and capital had to be brought back after the war (2 marks). (c) Two long-term effects: education and public health collapsed (1 mark); memories of war and colonial rule strengthened demands for better living standards and a share in government (1 mark); military scrip and inflation left lasting damage (1 mark; any two for full marks). |
| 4 | 4. After the 1950s Hong Kong changed from an entrepot into an industrial city. (a) Explain two factors that promoted industrialisation in Hong Kong in the 1950s. (3 marks) (b) Name two major export-oriented industries of the 1960s. (2 marks) (c) Explain why the service sector expanded rapidly in the 1970s. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Factor one: after 1949 large amounts of capital, technology and labour came in from the mainland (1 mark); factor two: the United Nations embargo on China blocked the entrepot trade, so merchants invested in light manufacturing (2 marks). (b) Textiles and clothing, plastics, electronics, toys, watches (any two, 1 mark each). (c) Manufacturing profits built up capital (1 mark); the government kept trade free and taxes low and set up the Trade Development Council to open overseas markets (1 mark); demand for finance, shipping and tourism grew with the regional economy (1 mark). |
Section B: Modern Chinese History (Q5-Q8, 33 marks)
Dates, names and treaty titles must be accurate; comparison questions must state both similarities and differences.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5. After the Opium War China signed a series of treaties with the powers. (a) List three main terms of the Treaty of Nanking. (3 marks) (b) Explain how consular jurisdiction and the unilateral most-favoured-nation clause damaged Chinese sovereignty. (3 marks) (c) Britain and the United States gave up extraterritoriality in China in 1943; find the number of years from 1842 to that year. (2 marks) | Answer: (a) Cession of Hong Kong Island; an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars; the opening of five treaty ports, namely Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai; tariff agreement with Britain (any three, 1 mark each). (b) Consular jurisdiction put foreigners in China outside Chinese law, damaging judicial sovereignty (1 mark); the unilateral most-favoured-nation clause passed every privilege to other powers automatically, so China could not deal with them one by one (1 mark); together they left China unable to protect its own people and industries (1 mark). (c) 1943 – 1842 = 101 years (2 marks). |
| 6 | 6. The 1911 Revolution ended Qing rule. (a) Explain the background to and course of the Wuchang uprising of 10 October 1911. (3 marks) (b) Describe how the Republic of China was founded and the Qing emperor abdicated in 1912. (3 marks) (c) State two major problems that the 1911 Revolution failed to solve. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Background: the failure of the late Qing reforms, pressure from the powers, and revolutionary propaganda among the New Army and secret societies (1 mark); course: on 10 October 1911 the New Army rose in Wuchang and seized the arsenal and the governor’s office (1 mark), and province after province declared independence (1 mark). (b) On 1 January 1912 the Republic of China was founded in Nanjing with Sun Yat-sen as provisional president (1 mark); after negotiations the boy emperor Puyi abdicated on 12 February, ending Qing rule (2 marks). (c) Warlord division and a fragmented centre (1 mark); unequal treaties and foreign privileges were not abolished (1 mark); land and livelihood problems were left unsolved and rural poverty continued (1 mark). |
| 7 | 7. The May Fourth Movement was an important patriotic movement in modern China. (a) Explain how the Shandong question at the Paris Peace Conference sparked the May Fourth Movement. (3 marks) (b) Describe the development of the movement from May to June 1919. (2 marks) (c) State two intellectual and cultural effects of the movement. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 handed Germany’s rights in Shandong to Japan and Chinese diplomacy failed (1 mark); the news made students feel that right had not prevailed over might, which triggered protests (1 mark); students of Peking University and other schools organised marches (1 mark). (b) On 4 May Beijing students demonstrated and were suppressed by troops, with many arrests (1 mark); in June the movement spread to Shanghai with workers’ strikes and shop closures, and the government released the students and dismissed pro-Japanese officials (1 mark). (c) The New Culture Movement and vernacular writing spread further (1 mark); Marxism and socialism were widely discussed and intellectuals began to organise (1 mark); national and anti-imperialist feeling rose (1 mark). |
| 8 | 8. China faced Japanese military aggression from 1931. (a) State the impact of the Mukden Incident of 1931 and the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. (3 marks) (b) What is the historical name for the conduct of Japanese troops in Nanjing in December 1937? (2 marks) (c) Explain how the victory of 1945 changed China’s international status. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Mukden Incident: Japan occupied the Northeast and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo the next year, so China lost the resources and sovereignty of the region (1 mark); Marco Polo Bridge Incident: full war broke out and the National Government declared resistance (2 marks). (b) The Nanjing Massacre (2 marks). (c) China became one of the victorious powers (1 mark) and took a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 1945 (1 mark); some treaty privileges were given up and international standing rose, though the civil war that followed weakened the gains (1 mark). |
Section C: World Wars and International Order (Q9-Q12, 33 marks)
Marks are given for accurate facts, clear argument and sound explanation of cause and effect.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 9. The First World War changed the international order. (a) Explain how the Sarajevo assassination of 1914 led to a general war. (3 marks) (b) List three main terms imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. (3 marks) (c) Explain how that treaty prepared the ground for the Second World War. (2 marks) | Answer: (a) In 1914 the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated at Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist (1 mark); Austria-Hungary, backed by Germany, declared war on Serbia (1 mark); the alliance systems mobilised in a chain, and general war broke out and lasted 4 years (1 mark). (b) Germany had to accept responsibility for the war (1 mark); it lost Alsace-Lorraine and its colonies (1 mark); the army was cut to 100 000 men, air force and submarines were banned, and heavy reparations were imposed (1 mark). (c) The harsh terms wrecked the German economy and humiliated the nation, feeding extreme nationalism and helping the rise of the Nazis (2 marks). |
| 10 | 10. The League of Nations was a security organisation set up after the First World War. (a) State the year the League was founded, its headquarters and its main organs. (3 marks) (b) Explain three reasons why the League failed to keep peace. (3 marks) (c) Compare the League and the United Nations on one major difference in their peace-keeping machinery. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Founded in 1920 (1 mark); headquarters in Geneva (1 mark); the main organs were the Assembly and the Council (1 mark). (b) The United States stayed out because its Senate refused ratification, so the League lacked weight (1 mark); decisions needed unanimity and could not be enforced (1 mark); Japan, Italy and Germany left one after another, and economic sanctions failed against great powers, so aggression could not be stopped (1 mark). (c) The United Nations has a Security Council whose permanent members hold a veto and which may authorise force and deploy peacekeeping forces; the League had no such enforcement machinery (3 marks). |
| 11 | 11. After 1945 the world entered the Cold War. (a) The Second World War ran from the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 to the Japanese surrender in August 1945; find how many years the war lasted. (2 marks) (b) State the main decisions of the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference. (3 marks) (c) Using the Marshall Plan and NATO as examples, explain how the two Cold War camps confronted each other. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) 1945 – 1939 = 6 years (2 marks). (b) Yalta, February 1945: zones of occupation for Germany, Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the veto arrangement for the United Nations (1.5 marks); Potsdam, July 1945: demilitarisation and democratisation of Germany and a final ultimatum to Japan (1.5 marks). (c) Economically the Marshall Plan funded Western European recovery and consolidated the capitalist camp (1 mark); militarily NATO was formed in 1949 and the Soviet bloc answered with the Warsaw Pact in 1955, leaving two armed blocs facing each other (2 marks). |
| 12 | 12. After 1945 the international order and the colonial system changed greatly. (a) State the year the United Nations was founded and one privilege of its permanent members of the Security Council. (3 marks) (b) Name two Asian or African countries that became independent between 1947 and the 1960s. (2 marks) (c) Explain the economic role Hong Kong played during the Cold War. (3 marks) | Answer: (a) Founded in 1945 (1 mark); the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, the United States, Britain, France and Russia) hold a veto (2 marks). (b) Examples: India and Pakistan (1947), Indonesia (1949), Malaya (1957), Ghana (1957), Nigeria (1960); any two, 1 mark each. (c) Hong Kong became a trading and intelligence hub between China and the West during the Cold War (1 mark); capital and talent flowed in and drove export manufacturing (1 mark); banking, shipping and communications made it the region’s entrepot and service centre (1 mark). |
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A TutorZone practice paper; original questions and passages, not publisher material.