X02: Final Review

Nationalism and Revolution in Modern China

May 30, 2025

About the exam

Date and time

120-minute, take-home, open book

Question type:

Three excerpts (~600 words):
- Primary source
- Secondary source
- Multimedia source
Open-ended: No set prompt
Similar to our class readings

Registers the meaning of “Two Cannot Denies” and its political significance
Ponders the motivation behind the formulation of “Two Cannot Denies” in 2013, in the wake of Xi Jinping’s ascent to power
Examines the role of history in party ideology and the stakes of periodization
Considers potential reception to the “Two Cannot Denies” thesis in China, especially among different intellectuals (liberals, new left, etc.)
Notes the reference to dialectical materialism and historical materialism, and consider the CCP’s inheritance of – and departure from – Marxist historiography

Discusses continuities and ruptures between the Mao era and the reform era
Notes the politics of periodization in Chinese politics and situates the 1978 divide in significant turning points in 20th-century Chinese history
Remarks on the growing of nationalism (“The Chinese Dream”; “the Chinese spirit”) and considers its significance as new pillar of legitimacy for the CCP
Ponders the influence of party historiography on academic and popular understanding of PRC history

Has little to say about the changes and continuities between the Mao era and the reform era
Fails to grasp the “Two Cannot Denies” and its ideological significance
Imprecise about the legacies of the Mao era – and motivations for reviving them in the pre
Makes little mention of social issues during the reform era – such as growing inequalities – and why they prompted a reassessment of the Mao era

Fails to register the political context of the 2013 directive (Xi Jinping’s rise) and the motivation for ideological control
Makes no mention of the China dream and the use of nationalism as a source of regime legitimacy
Overlooks or dismisses the enduring role of ideology in contemporary Chinese politics

Draws on specific historical events (e.g. First United Front, Xi’an Incident, etc.) to contextualize the relationship between Sino-Japanese War and Chinese civil war
Consider the legacies of the 1911 Revolution and its relationship to the Chinese Civil War
Evaluates existing accounts, individual and collective, of the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, and debates if – and if so, why – they have been separated in popular and scholarly accounts
Suggests sources and strategies to reconcile narratives of heroism with accounts of state violence in histories of Chinese Civil War

Examines the legacies of WWII and Civil War on China (e.g., human casualty, international status, political division, collective memory, etc.)
Consider the causes for the failure of Nationalist-Communist collaboration and the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War
Examine similarities and differences – ideological, organizational, personal, etc. – between the CCP and the GMD (e.g., rise of single party-state, planned economy, work unit system, etc.)
Connects the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Revolution and the post-1949 order
Discusses difficulties of narrating world war and civil war in other historical contexts (such as Korea, Japan, the US, etc.)

Has little to say about the relationship between the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War
Makes little attempt to address Interpretive and methodological difficulties of studying WWII and the Chinese Civil War
Overlooks the context of political division in China and Taiwan after 1949 and its impact on collective memories and academic study of the Chinese Civil War
Fails to contextualize the causes and effects of Sino-Japanese War and their legacies in both China and Taiwan

Makes no argument about continuity and change from Xinhai Revolution to WWII to post-1949 China
Offers no critical engagement with the prompt (e.g. mostly repeating its argument with some factual references)
Has little to say about potentials and pitfalls of using existing sources, primary and secondary, to study the two wars

Explores how Chinese women experienced socialism
Comments on shifts in visual style from urban modernism to socialist realism
Observes continuities in visual propaganda – e.g. female models in the style of Shanghai movie posters – and connects it to the CCP’s strategy of cultural positioning
Remarks on similarities in representing working women and explores the question of female labor in Communist ideology and programs

Discusses the role of political campaigns and contextualizes the posters in their political contexts (land reform and agricultural collectivization vs. family planning)
Examines the role of visual propaganda in political culture
Explores urban and rural divide and connects it to broader changes in Chinese political economy
Considers how socialist art, despite its propaganda function, is a useful resource for studying political culture in Mao’s China

Fails to observe similarities and differences between two posters
Makes little discussion as to why certain elements (e.g. Shanghai movie poster style) persisted and why and how styles changed overtime
Overly descriptive of surface features and makes no connection to broader history of women in Chinese socialism

Has little to say about the political context of these two posters: agricultural collectivization and family planning
Makes no attempt to disaggregate the experiences of Chinese women (rural vs. urban)
Overlooks gap between depicted realities and lived experiences: How did Chinese women experience the Communist Revolution?
Overly dismissive about CCP propaganda and its use for understanding cultural change in socialist China