Lesson 4

4 Economic reform Quiz: Pearson Edexcel History, Unit 16

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4, Economic reform: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel GCSE History (1HI0), Unit 16: Mao’s China, 1945–76, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Who led the pragmatic economic reforms from 1962 to 1965?

    • Mao and Lin
    • Peng and Chen
    • Zhou and Jiang
    • Liu and Deng

  2. What was restored for peasants under the 1962 reforms?

    • Foreign trade
    • Factory ownership
    • Private plots
    • Large estates

  3. What did the 'three freedoms' policy allow peasants to do?

    • Private farming
    • Total collectivisation
    • Industrial labour
    • State-run quotas

  4. What was the main purpose of the early 1960s economic reforms?

    • Recover from famine
    • Promote communes
    • Launch Cultural Revolution
    • Expand heavy industry

  5. What change did reformers make to agricultural communes after 1961?

    • Rapidly expanded
    • Fully nationalised
    • Scaled back
    • Abolished entirely

  6. When did the 1962–65 reform period take place?

    • 1958–62
    • 1949–53
    • 1966–68
    • 1962–65

  7. Which leader was most associated with pragmatic economic policies in the early 1960s?

    • Lin Biao
    • Jiang Qing
    • Mao Zedong
    • Deng Xiaoping

  8. Why did Mao Zedong strongly criticise the early 1960s economic reforms?

    • Foreign invasion
    • Industrial decline
    • Fear of capitalism
    • Economic growth

  9. After the famine, a county allows farmers to sell surplus crops at local markets. Which reform does this show?

    • Great Leap Forward (1958–60)
    • First Five-Year Plan (1953–57)
    • Economic reform (1962–65)
    • Hundred Flowers (1956)

  10. Why did reformers introduce private plots for peasants in the early 1960s?

    • Promote communes
    • Abolish markets
    • Increase exports
    • Boost food supply

  11. Splitting agricultural communes into smaller management units is an example of what?

    • Nationalisation
    • Collectivisation
    • Industrialisation
    • Decentralisation

  12. What policy approach did Liu Shaoqi favour during the early 1960s economic crisis?

    • Total collectivisation
    • Radical struggle
    • Pragmatic methods
    • Permanent revolution

  13. What major event directly triggered the pragmatic economic reforms of 1962?

    • Korean War
    • Great Famine
    • First Five-Year Plan
    • Cultural Revolution

  14. Which political division was highlighted by the early 1960s economic reforms?

    • Mao versus pragmatists
    • Army versus party
    • Urban versus rural
    • Students versus workers

  15. Which measure most directly raised agricultural output in the early 1960s?

    • Giant communes
    • Household responsibility
    • Stricter controls
    • State quotas

  16. How did the early 1960s reforms contrast with the Great Leap Forward?

    • Relaxed radical controls
    • Increased collectivisation
    • Abolished farming
    • Emphasised steel

  17. What motivated leaders to adopt pragmatic economic policies after the Great Leap Forward?

    • Foreign pressure
    • Agricultural disaster
    • Ideological purity
    • Industrial surplus

  18. What ultimately happened to the 1962–1965 economic reforms during the Cultural Revolution?

    • Made permanent
    • Ignored entirely
    • Reversed by Mao
    • Expanded globally

  19. In the early 1960s, which group gained influence while Mao remained the ultimate authority?

    • Radical extremists
    • Red Guards
    • Pragmatic reformers
    • Foreign investors

  20. Whose opposition made pragmatic economic reformers vulnerable to later political attacks?

    • Mao Zedong
    • Liu Shaoqi
    • Zhou Enlai
    • Deng Xiaoping

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