2024 AQA A-Level HISTORY 7042/2P Component 2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997 Verified Question paper and Marking Scheme Attached

2024 AQA A-Level HISTORY 7042/2P Component 2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997 Verified Question paper and Marking Scheme Attached HISTORY Component 2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997 Friday 7 June 2024 Materials For this paper you must have: • an AQA 16-page answer book. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes • Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7042/2P. • Answer three questions. In Section A answer Question 01. In Section B answer two questions. Information • The marks for questions are shown in brackets. • The maximum mark for this paper is 80. • You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. Advice • You are advised to spend about: – 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A – 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B. 2 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2P Section A Answer Question 01. Source A From a statement made in an interview with a Western historian, by Liu Lin, 2001. Liu Lin, an agricultural expert, worked at a people’s commune during the Great Leap Forward. Even when the cooking pot of the last family in the production team was thrown into the backyard furnace, it was still not enough to meet the steel production goals set by the commune’s cadre. The cadre then walked around the village, came back and announced that he wanted the production team to smash their waterwheels to feed the furnace. I couldn’t stand this and stood in his way. “The waterwheel is an important production means and is needed to irrigate the crops,” I said. With cold eyes, he looked at me. “Would you like to take over my position as cadre and see what it is like?” he replied. For a moment, I did not know what to say. He walked back to the members of the production team standing nearby and ordered: “Smash them!” After three of the commune’s waterwheels had been smashed and fed into the furnace, the cadre’s steel production target was finally met. 5 10 Source B From a speech at a CCP conference for provincial and local party cadres by Mao Zedong, February 1959. The ratio between our achievements and our shortcomings in the Great Leap Forward is the ratio between nine fingers and one finger. The achievements outnumber the shortcomings by a great amount! Some people suspect or deny the success of the Great Leap Forward and suspect or deny the advantages of the people’s communes. This viewpoint is obviously completely wrong. Extra-large communes are the best means for us to achieve the transition from the rural collective system to the socialist system of full public ownership, and are the best means of accomplishing the transition from socialism to communism. If any suspicions develop regarding this basic principle, this is completely wrong. This should be considered a rightist deviation. I fear that we need to anticipate that rightist factions will come out jeering at us and that those landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries and other bad elements may well carry out dreadful acts of sabotage. 5 10 3 Source C From a speech made to schoolchildren by a CCP-appointed headmaster, Principal Gao, 1960. The speech was reported in the memoirs of one of Gao’s pupils, published 1993. Our one time ‘elder brother’ has betrayed the Chinese people! Khrushchev, the Revisionist, has summoned back to the USSR all the Soviet engineers and technicians who were in our country helping us with socialist construction in our Great Leap Forward. He has torn up all the agreements we had made calling for scientific and technical cooperation! Khrushchev has called in all the loans that the Soviet Union had made to China. The reason for the food shortages is because China had to borrow a lot from the Soviet Union at high interest rates to fight the Korean War and now, because of the ideological differences created by Khrushchev, we have to pay back those debts with food. That is why we have no fruit, vegetables or grain. The recklessness of Khrushchev and the Soviet Union is responsible for our current food shortages. It is because of them that we are now suffering, hungry and tired. 5 10 0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the Great Leap Forward. [30 marks] Turn over for Section B IB/M/Jun24/7042/2P Turn over ► 4 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2P Section B Answer two questions. 0 2 How successful was Jiang Jieshi in carrying out the GMD’s principles of Nationalism, Democracy and the People’s Livelihood before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war? [25 marks] 0 3 ‘Conflict over Xinjiang was the main cause of the deterioration in Sino-Soviet relations in the years 1962 to 1966.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] 0 4 ‘The Shanghai Radicals were the most powerful group in China in the years 1969 to 1976.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] END OF QUESTIONS Copyright information For confidentiality purposes, all acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after each live examination series and is available for free download from Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team. Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. A-level HISTORY 7042/2P Component 2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997 Mark scheme June 2024 Version: 1.0 Final MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/2P – JUNE 2024 Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. No student should be disadvantaged on the basis of their gender identity and/or how they refer to the gender identity of others in their exam responses. A consistent use of ‘they/them’ as a singular and pronouns beyond ‘she/her’ or ‘he/him’ will be credited in exam responses in line with existing mark scheme criteria. Further copies of this mark scheme are available from Copyright information AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre. Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 2 MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/2P – JUNE 2024 Level of response marking instructions Level of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the level shows the average performance for the level. There are marks in each level. Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s answer read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed) to show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the mark scheme. Step 1 Determine a level Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you have a match between the level descriptor and the answer. With practice and familiarity, you will find that for better answers you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels of the mark scheme. When assigning a level, you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level, ie if the response is predominantly Level 3 with a small amount of Level 4 material it would be placed in Level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of the Level 4 content. Step 2 Determine a mark Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark. The descriptors on how to allocate marks can help with this. The exemplar materials used during standardisation will help. There will be an answer in the standardising materials which will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have been awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example to determine if it is the same standard, better or worse than the example. You can then use this to allocate a mark for the answer based on the Lead Examiner’s mark on the example. You may well need to read back through the answer as you apply the mark scheme to clarify points and assure yourself that the level and the mark are appropriate. Indicative content in the mark scheme is provided as a guide for examiners. It is not intended to be exhaustive and you must credit other valid points. Students do not have to cover all of the points mentioned in the Indicative content to reach the highest level of the mark scheme. An answer which contains nothing of relevance to the question must be awarded no marks. 3 MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/2P – JUNE 2024 Section A 0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the Great Leap Forward. Target: AO2 [30 marks] Analyse and evaluate appropriate source material, primary and/or contemporary to the period, within the historical context. Generic Mark Scheme L5: L4: L3: Shows a very good understanding of all three sources in relation to both content and provenance and combines this with a strong awareness of the historical context to present a balanced argument on their value for the particular purpose given in the question. The answer will convey a substantiated judgement. The response demonstrates a very good understanding of context. 25–30 Shows a good understanding of all three sources in relation to both content and provenance and combines this with an awareness of the historical context to provide a balanced argument on their value for the particular purpose given in the question. Judgements may, however, be partial or limited in substantiation. The response demonstrates a good understanding of context. 19–24 Shows some understanding of all three sources in relation to b