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NSWModern HistoryQuick questions
Section III (Personalities): Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China
Quick questions on Mao's background and rise to prominence: HSC Modern History Personality
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is founding the Chinese Communist Party, 1921?Show answer
In July 1921, Mao travelled to Shanghai as one of two Hunan delegates to the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Congress was held in the French Concession at 106 rue Wantz (now 76 Xingye Road); thirteen delegates represented approximately 57 members. Chen Duxiu, in Canton, was elected General Secretary in absentia. Mao took notes and spoke little.
What is the Hunan Report, March 1927?Show answer
Before the break, Mao produced the Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (March 1927). The report described peasant associations sweeping landlord power away in Hunan and argued the peasantry, not the urban proletariat, was the revolutionary class of China. The Comintern and the CCP Central Committee disapproved; Mao was sidelined.
What is the Jiangxi Soviet, 1931 to 1934?Show answer
In November 1931 the Chinese Soviet Republic was proclaimed at Ruijin in Jiangxi. Mao was elected Chairman of the Central Executive Committee. The Soviet controlled around three million people at its peak. However, the Comintern-backed "28 Bolsheviks", led by Wang Ming and Bo Gu, displaced Mao from military command in 1932, preferring positional warfare under the German Comintern adviser Otto Braun (Li De).
What is q1?Show answer
Source A is an extract from Mao's Hunan Report (1927). Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain Mao's early political development. [5 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Evaluate the extent to which Mao's pre-1934 career foreshadowed his later leadership style. [25 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Compare the views of Stuart Schram and Jung Chang on the young Mao. [10 marks]
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