KS3: Mao's China Lessons

This short scheme of lessons has been designed for our year 9 students in History, following their study of WWI, the Holocaust, WWI and the Cold War.

I have left the resources free of branding/my school procedures so that they can adapted to suit your context.

Lesson 1 - Introduction to communist rule in China
This sets up how China becomes communist alongside European events (WWI/WWII/Cold War) and the alliance made between China and the USSR.

Lesson 2 - Industrial and agricultural changes
This lesson focused on the five year plans adopted by Mao and the success/failures of the Great Leap Forward.

Lesson 3 - Cultural Revolution and the Culture of Mao
This lesson looks at how Mao becomes an icon through the Little Red Book and how the Red Guard were used to subvert Chinese culture and cause terror.

Lesson 4 - Social changes for women and the family
For this lesson students will look at the changes made towards women under Mao, assessing significant/limited changes towards the social status of women.

Lesson 5 - From Mao to modern day China
This lesson looks at the legacy of Mao and introduces some key issues in modern day China. This is the shortest of all the lessons and is mostly based on news reports (videos and articles). I plan to edit this further to suit my school’s context, with a growing Hong-Kong population, but I’m conscious this may not relevant all schools/contexts.