| Date | November 2019 | Marks available | 4 | Reference code | 19N.1.BP.TZ0.10 |
| Level | Both SL and HL | Paper | Paper 1 - first exams 2017 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Analyse | Question number | 10 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
The sources and questions relate to case study 1: Japanese expansion in East Asia (1931–1941) — Responses: Political developments within China — the Second United Front.
Source I
Mao Zedong in an interview with the American journalist Edgar Snow. Mao’s secretary was the interpreter (16 July 1936).
In the anti-Japanese war, the Chinese people would have on their side greater advantages than those the Red Army has utilized in its struggle with the Guomindang. China is a very big nation, and … if Japan should succeed in occupying even a large section of China, getting possession of an area with as many as 100 or even 200 million people, we would still be far from defeated …
As for munitions, the Japanese cannot seize our arsenals [military stores] in the interior, which are sufficient to equip Chinese armies for many years, nor can they prevent us from capturing great amounts of arms and ammunitions from their own hands …
Economically, of course, China is not unified. But the uneven development of China’s economy also presents advantages in a war against the highly centralized and highly concentrated economy of Japan … It is impossible for Japan to isolate all of China: China’s Northwest, Southwest, and West cannot be blockaded by Japan.
The central point of the problem becomes the mobilization and unification of the entire Chinese people and the building up of a united front.
[Source: Marxists Internet Archive (2014)]
With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the value and limitations of Source I for an historian studying the Second United Front in China.
Markscheme
Value:
- It was an interview with the leader of the Communist Party Mao Zedong in 1936 and contemporary with events.
- It indicates how Mao wanted China and the Second United Front to be perceived.
- It details the advantages China would have in a conflict with Japan and the benefits of forming a United Front.
Limitations:
- The interview was conducted through an interpreter and was not a direct conversation.
- Mao, aware that his words would be published, may have attempted to garner support for the struggle against Japan.
- It only gives Mao’s perspective on the situation in China.
The focus of the question is on the value and limitations of the source. If only value or limitations are discussed, award a maximum of [2]. Origins, purpose and content should be used as supporting evidence to make relevant comments on the values and limitations. For [4] there must be at least one reference to each of them in either the values or the limitations.
