The 1950s and 1960s were periods of great change for China.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1-4] e.g. 'The Communists stopped foot binding for women.'
2. [1-4] 'Women were encouraged to work.'
3. [1-4] 'Divorce was made easier.'
4. [1-4] 'Education was improved with everybody learning to read and write.'
5. [1-4] 'Serfdom was abolished.'
6. [1-4] 'In the Cultural Revolution, temples and churches were attacked and theatre was censored with many traditional plays not allowed.'
7. [4-5] e.g. 'They introduced communes because they gave the government control over the peasants. The communes were huge and contained lots of peasants and this let the government use them in large numbers for big projects like building tunnels, roads and bridges. Communist propaganda was also used in the communes to get people to work hard and support Mao.'
8. [2-3] e.g. 'They were introduced to control the peasants.'
9. [2-3] 'They were introduced so that more agricultural produce was produced.'
10. [2-3] 'This was done to help industrial production through 'backyard' production.'
11. [2-3] 'The success of collective farms led to the Communists thinking they could go one step further with communes.'
12. [4-6] e.g. 'I agree with this. His social reforms changed the lives of the people, especially the peasants, completely. Before, they lived backward and poor lives. Proper health care was now provided with many more doctors and it was free. This reduced rates of illness which was very important to people. The lives of women were also changed. They were given educational opportunities and encouraged to go out to work. Forced marriages were stopped and husbands had to treat their wives better. Women had more opportunities and freer lives with old fashioned practices like foot binding being stopped.'
13. [4-6] OR e.g. 'I disagree. The First Five-Year Plan was important to the people of China. Peasants moved to find jobs in large cities and in large industrial plants. If they worked hard, they were rewarded by being given more food, better accommodation and better schools for their children. This gave them a higher standard of living than they had had as peasants. They were also able to move around more easily with the massive development of railways.'
14. [2-3] e.g. 'They benefited from the free health care.'
15. [2-3] 'Education was improved and literacy rates went up.'
16. [2-3] 'Women benefited from having more freedom.'
17. [2-3] 'The industrial reforms provided jobs for peasants.'
18. [2-3] 'Workers in the factories often had a higher standard of living than out in the countryside.'