The Korean War: Chinas Entry Process Paper

Dan Yang Alexander Yang Ethan Lo

472 words

How we chose our topic

Choosing our topic required some thought. We wanted to choose a topic that we were all interested in. After scanning through the sheet of history day topics, we finally decided to do our project on Chinas entry in the Korean War. We chose this topic because the topic caught our attention and sounded interesting. We did not know much about the Korean War except that it ended in a stalemate. We also did not know that Chinas involvement in the war was a major turning point of the War. We wanted to do a topic that we didnt really know about, so that by doing the history day project we all could learn something new.

How we conducted our research

To start off, we went on the Internet at school. There were a lot of websites that had information on the Korean War, but we wanted to narrow our search to Chinas involvement, and how it affected the whole war. There were some useful sites, but there werent many primary sources on Chinas involvement. Then we decided to use books as well as websites for our research. One of us went to the Ramsey County Library, and asked them if they had any books about the Korean War. They did have books about the Korean War, but could only find this one useful secondary source book. Then, we realized that we would need much more sources. Then, we found this website that had a lot of primary sources, including, articles, and letters. So that was our main primary source site.

Selection & Presentation

We knew creating a website was going to be a hard thing to do, since none of us had any experience with creating websites. After we chose our topic, we made our thesis, and put pictures. After that, we put information on Chinas entry and how it turned the tide of war. We also put information on the war before Chinas entry, and what Korea was like when it was controlled by Japan. We put the process paper and the bibliography last.

How our project relates to NHD theme

This years NHD theme is Turning points of history. During the Korean War, there were lots of turning points, such as, General MacArthurs surprise attack on Incheon. But Chinas entry was a major turning point of the whole war. When the UN forces raced to the Yalu River, in hopes of reuniting the North and the South, China stepped in unexpectedly. China pushed the UN forces back south of the 38th parallel, and eventually recaptured Seoul. Although the UN forces captured Seoul back later on, Chinas entry propped up N. Korea, allowing it to survive the war, and to the current day.