Activity 1 - Which events should we revise?

  1. Mind-Map - Create a concept-map using Padlet, Mindmup or any other similar mind-mapping tool (or create a sketchnote by hand!). In the middle write ‘What role did China play in the Cold War?’.
  2. Summarise - Now fill in your mind-map with key historical information and facts about the main events of the unit. Use this timeline, review your notes and summarise using the following headings:
    1. Sino-Soviet Relations
    2. Sino-American Relations
    3. Other Relations
  3. Revise - Use your mind maps to help you revise the historical content for your upcoming assessment and final exams. Make sure you store a copy with your other revision materials.

Activity 2 - What was our inquiry?

  1. Recall - Examine the statement of inquiry for this unit again and consider how it applies to what you’ve studied:
    1. “In global conflicts, emerging nations can achieve significant power by facilitating interdependence between non-aligned states”
  2. Analyse - With a partner, discuss how this statement of inquiry could be applied to the role of China in the Cold War. Consider the following questions:
    1. Connect - How is the SOI connected to what you have studied?
    2. Extend - Does the SOI extend your thinking about the Cold War in any way?
    3. Challenge - What is challenging or confusing about the SOI?
    4. Discuss - Does the SOI apply to the Cold War? What other events in history might it also apply to?
  3. Reflect - The key concept of this unit was significance. Events in the past have historical significance to us today if they: a.) resulted in change and had deep consequences for many people, over a long period of time; b.) reveal something about enduring or emerging issues in history or contemporary life. Historical significance is also: c.) constructed through narrative; d.) varies over time and from group to group. 
  4. Evaluate - Considering the criteria for historical significance discussed above, rank the following events involving China during the Cold War from most to least historically significant:
    1. 1946-49 - Second Chinese Civil War
    2. 1950-53 - Korean War
    3. 1955 - Bandung Conference
    4. 1957 - Moscow Conference of Communist Parties
    5. 1958 - Second Taiwan Straits Crisis
    6. 1962 - Sino-Indian War
    7. 1969 - Sino-Soviet Border War
    8. 1972 - The Shanghai Communique
    9. 1973 - US withdraws from Vietnam
    10. 1979 - Sino-Vietnamese War
    11. 1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre

Activity 3 - How might we be assessed?

  1. ​Essay Plan - Try practicing for your end of unit review by essay planning previous questions on this topic. Use this essay mark-scheme to help:
    1. ​To what extent had China become a global power by 1976? - Nov 2020 / P3 PRC
    2. "China's relations with the USSR and the US were largely shaped by increasing mistrust and suspicion." Discuss with reference to the period between 1947 and 1979 - May 2019 / P2 CW
    3. Discuss the reasons for, and consequences of, the changing nature of Sino-American relations - Nov 2018 / P3 PRC
    4. Discuss the reasons for, and the results for China of, the breakdown in Sino-Soviet relations by 1976 - Nov 2017 / P3 PRC
    5. Discuss the reasons why Sino–American relations changed from being hostile to mutually beneficial in the period 1949 to 1976 - May 2015 / P3 PRC
    6. Compare and contrast US relations with China and the USSR during detente - Nov 2015 / P2 CW
    7. Examine the changing nature of US–Chinese relations between 1949 and 1972 - May 2014 / P2 CW
    8. To what extent were China’s relations with other states in the region successful in the second half of the 20th century? - Nov 2014 / P3 PRC
    9. Explain why Sino–Soviet relations changed from being friendly to antagonistic in the period 1949 to 1969 - May 2013 / P3 PRC
    10. Account for the changing nature of Sino–Soviet relations from 1949 to 1976 - Nov 2013 / P2 CW
    11. For what reasons, and with what results, did Sino–Soviet relations deteriorate after 1953? - May 2013 / P2 CW
    12. Evaluate the foreign policy of China’s government between 1949 and 1976 - Nov 2012 / P3 PRC
    13. For what reasons, and with what results, did the Sino–Soviet split influence the Cold War? - Nov 2010 / P2 CW

Further Reading for Revision

OBLIGATORY REading
  1. Mamaux, A. (2015). Oxford IBDP Programme - The Cold War, pp. 112-120, 153-157
recommended reading
  1. Rogers, K., & Thomas, J. (2015). Pearson Baccalaureate: History the Cold War, pp. 127-149, 151-167
supplemental reading
  1. Lovell, J. (2019). Maoism: A Global History, Introduction
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