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China 1950–1981: The People and the State

Communism in China after the death of Mao 1976–1981

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

The Gang of Four and the trial of Jiang Qing, the democracy wall, the Four Modernisations, the household responsibility system, Special Economic Zones, the verdict on Mao Zedong, the One Child policy, schooling and women.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

Who were the Gang of Four?

Key term

What became of the Gang of Four within a month of Mao Zedong’s death in 1976?

Numbers

What was the ‘democracy wall’ in Beijing, and why did it close?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who were the Gang of Four?

    Model answer

    Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, the radicals who had run the Cultural Revolution.

  2. 2

    What became of the Gang of Four within a month of Mao Zedong’s death in 1976?

    Model answer

    Hua Guofeng had them arrested and they were blamed for the violence and chaos of the previous ten years.

  3. 3

    How did the trial of Jiang Qing in 1980–81 end?

    Model answer

    She refused to admit any guilt and was sentenced to death, a sentence later reduced to life imprisonment.

  4. 4

    What was the ‘democracy wall’ in Beijing, and why did it close?

    Model answer

    A wall where people pinned up posters demanding rights and reform from 1978; Deng Xiaoping had it closed in 1979 and jailed writers such as Wei Jingsheng.

  5. 5

    Who first set out the Four Modernisations, and what were they?

    Model answer

    Zhou Enlai, who named agriculture, industry, defence, and science and technology as the four fields China had to modernise.

  6. 6

    What replaced the communes on the land under Deng Xiaoping?

    Model answer

    The household responsibility system, under which a family farmed a plot of its own and could sell anything it grew above the state quota.

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