Question
Examine the impact of the 21 Demands (1915) and the Treaty of Versailles (1919) on cultural and political developments in China up to 1924.
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
Candidates are required to consider the impact on cultural and political developments in China of these two external events.
Indicative content
- Cultural and political attitudes had not changed markedly following the 1911 Revolution and the establishment of the Republic led Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-k’ai).
- The New Culture Movement emerged as a result of several factors: Yuan’s weak central government acquiesced to Japan’s 21 Demands, which caused an outcry in China; China’s relationship with the West during the First World War and the failure of the revolution to bring about significant change.
- The New Culture Movement aimed to develop a new cultural identity for China. Intellectuals from Beijing (Peking) University were heavily involved in this intellectual and literary revolution that promoted the publication of magazines in everyday language and characters.
- New Youth magazine and other New Culture Movement publications had an emphasis on youth and favoured Western ideas (for example. liberalism, democracy, socialism and Marxism) over China’s traditional society and Confucian values.
- China’s treatment in the Treaty of Versailles sparked demonstrations by workers and students (May Fourth Movement). It was an urban, political response that was anti-imperialist, patriotic, favoured student and worker involvement in politics and the establishment of unions. It was against the warlordism rife in China and favoured national unity.
- It could be argued that the two events had a combined impact: the May Fourth Movement arose in the context of the New Culture Movement.
- It could also be argued that the New Culture Movement/May Fourth Movement destroyed traditional Chinese values and society and that Western cultural and political ideas began to dominate.
- Some may argue that the course of Chinese politics was changed by the New Culture Movement/May Fourth Movement, that this intellectual milieu gave rise to the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 and Sun Yixian’s (Sun Yat-sen’s) revamped Guomindang, GMD (Kuomintang, KMT) in 1924.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
Question
“Jiang Jieshi’s (Chiang Kai-shek’s) rule between 1927 and 1937 unified and modernized China.” Discuss.
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
Candidates must offer a considered and balanced review of Jiang Jieshi’s (Chiang Kai-shek’s) rule and its impact on China. Candidates may challenge or support the assumption in the question; however some views on both sides are to be expected.
Indicative content
- The problems facing China included the need for financial and economic reform, tariff autonomy, the recovery of foreign concessions, communications, industrial development, education, the need for social reform, and the plight of the peasants. Jiang Jieshi appealed to nationalism and justified his rule in terms of Sun Yixian’s (Sun Yat-sen’s) principles. He was a single-party leader who indicated no significant move towards democracy, relied on the military and attempted to create a mass movement and enforce ideological control.
- Aspects of modernization include improved foreign diplomacy, international recognition, the revision of the treaty system, the return of foreign concessions, developments in industry and communications, and some attempt to reform aspects of social and cultural life (for example, the 1934 New Life Movement).
- However problems persisted: injustices towards the peasantry remained unaddressed; the government focused on industrial and land-owning interests; oppression was endemic with Jiang creating the fascist-like organization, the Blue Shirts.
- Jiang seemed more intent on eliminating challenges to his rule than dealing with the threat of Japanese invasion. This eventually led to the 1936 Xian (Sian) incident, during which his own officers kidnapped him and insisted on the creation of the Second United Front with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to fight the Japanese.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
Question
“The conflict between Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-k’ai) and the Guomindang, GMD (Kuomintang, KMT) undermined the principles of the Chinese Republic.” Discuss.
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
Candidates will offer a considered and balanced review of the ways in which Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-k’ai) undermined the principles of the Chinese Republic. Yuan was fundamentally opposed to the three principles proposed by the Guomindang, GMD (Kuomintang, KMT) and it is this conflict that was the core of Yuan’s attempts to seize power and consistently undermine the GMD. Candidates may offer a conclusion that supports or rejects, wholly or partially, the view expressed. Both Yuan Shikai and the inchoate nationalist GMD were products of the collapse of China, and the breakdown of the state is a thread that runs through this period.
Indicative content
- Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-sen) returned from abroad after the 1911 “Double Ten” Nationalist Revolution and he became the provisional President of the new Chinese Republic. This was due to the popularity of his revolutionary deals.
- Sun gave up the presidency of the republic to Yuan by 1 January 1912 because his fellow revolutionaries felt that Yuan was a strong and popular general who could save the country from civil war and that Yuan had the connections to facilitate the abdication of the Qing dynasty.
- This effectively ignored Sun’s Three Principles of the People and his theories about how a revolutionary government should be established.
- Once President, Yuan ignored the original conditions about transferring to Nanjing because he wanted to keep his support base in the north.
- Sun created the parliamentary party, the GMD, from the Alliance League in 1912 and it won a landslide election victory for the National Assembly in 1913.
- Sun remained in the south, but he was appointed director of railways. Sun initially had a naive faith in Yuan’s ability to be a good revolutionary ruler.
- Yuan felt threatened by the GMD. He had Song Jiaoren (Sung Chiao-jen), a prominent GMD member of the Assembly, assassinated.
- When Yuan borrowed money from foreign sources, the National Assembly attempted to impeach him.
- Sun, other GMD supporters and some provincial governors tried to overthrow Yuan, but he crushed the opposition violently and party politics failed.
- In November 1913, Yuan outlawed the GMD and Sun had to flee the country. In 1914, he dissolved the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, created a Council of State and became a dictator.
- Yuan’s government gave in to Japan’s 21 Demands in 1915. He tried to make himself emperor in 1915, but was thwarted by his own army officers and by unrest in various provinces.
- By the time he died in 1916, the power of the central government had been seriously weakened. His example undoubtedly encouraged other military commanders to use their armies to establish control over whatever regions they could and the period from 1916 to 1927 is considered the Warlord Era.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
Question
“The importance of the Long March to the survival of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1930s has been exaggerated.” To what extent to do agree with this statement?
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
Candidates are required to consider the significance of the Long March rather than a give a description of the events. Many candidates may disagree with this statement and discuss the idea that the Long March (1934–1935) was a seminal time for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Indicative content
- The First United Front between the CCP and the Guomindang, GMD (Kuomintang, KMT) broke down in 1927 and the CCP retreated to the Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Soviet. This was followed by Jiang Jieshi’s (Chiang Kai-shek’s) 1930–1934 bandit extermination campaigns against the CCP. This forced the CCP’s escape from Jiangxi and the Long March.
- Figures vary, but approximately 90,000 to 100,000 members of the Red Army set out from the Jiangxi Soviet in 1934 and only 10 per cent reached the communist base in Yan’an (Yenan) a year later.
- During this time, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) became the leader at Zunyi (Tsunyi).
- The Red Army also claimed that it was marching north to fight the Japanese. In the face of Jiang Jieshi’s initial reluctance to fight the Japanese, the Long March could be interpreted as a strategic move by the CCP in the face of the Japanese threat.
- This point was used in CCP propaganda after the event and during the Sino–Japanese War (1937–1945). CCP propaganda during the Long March included woodcut prints that depicted the Red Army as friends who recruited volunteers and also armed the peasants to fight against the Japanese.
- The CCP ideology, with its promise of land reform and equality, appealed to the peasants in the face of GMD brutality and indifference to their plight in the 1930s and, later, during both the Sino–Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Civil War between the CCP and the GMD (1946–1949).
- The Long March eventually became a legend that embodied the virtues of endurance, loyalty and sacrifice. The CCP and Mao used this for propaganda purposes both before and after the CCP victory in 1949.
- After the Red Army reached Yan’an, the Western journalist Edgar Snow was one of the first foreign journalists to travel there and interview survivors of the Long March. Although, much of what he was shown and what he subsequently published in his 1937 book Red Star over China was vetted by Mao and Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai). Snow’s descriptions of the Long March and life in Yan’an were idealistic and romantic and created a myth in the West that influenced a whole generation of China watchers and historians, particularly amongst those who were left wing.
- In recent times, however, there have been a number of books published that question this popular interpretation of the Long March.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.