(September 6,1915)
Esteemed elder schoolmate43 Zisheng:
I read in the Doctrine of the Mean about extensive study.44 In his annotations to
the Great Learning, Zhu Xi wrote45 that, on the basis of first understanding their
principles, all things found in heaven and on earth can be understood, even to the
ultimate degree. Their outsides and insides, fine points and more general aspects, will
all be arrived at; their entire substance and total functions will be illuminated. In the
passage alluded to above, Confucius advocated “extensively studying all learning.”46
Mencius spoke of “learning extensively and discussing minutely what is learned.”47 I
have taken this teaching as a matter of course and assumed it to be the path which all
scholars must follow. Having heard that Mr. Li Shaoxi48 was an enthusiastic scholar, I
went to interview him. What he said seemed to be in agreement with these teachings,
but his logic was more detailed. The practical method has also made his teaching more
effective. I am extremely impressed with Mr. Li; in all my life, I have met only one
person capable of expounding things in this way. You too are an enthusiastic scholar
and a deep thinker. What I learned of his theories is still incomplete. Since I have
been asked, I will recount it to you, but I will not be able to do justice to it. However,
whenever I have some new understanding, I dare not fail to pass it along to you in
order to repay your kind intentions and express my own sincerity. I asked Shaoxi how
one gains knowledge. When the school is stagnant and corrupt, should one forsake
it for deep mountains and serene springs, there to build a foundation by studying the
writings of the ancients, and later, following in the footsteps of Mr. Kang and Liang
Rengong, descend from the mountain and immerse oneself in the new learning? Shaoxi
disapproved of this as reversing the
two months before his graduation from First Normal, and taught there during the first semester of the
1915–1916 academic year. See Siao-yu, Mao Tse-tung and I Were Beggars, pp. 70, 182. Mao later taught
history at Xiuye from April to December 1919.
first and the last. In general, comprehensive study should be the foundation of specialization, and the new should be the foundation of the old. Politicians especially,
and practical men, attach particular value to familiarity with and adaptability to all
kinds of circumstances. Bismarck was richest in comprehensive knowledge. Today, even
Yuan49 also has much knowledge. If one fails in this, one will certainly be defeated. The
example is Wang Anshi.50 In order to carry out his own ideas, he found justification
in antiquity. He annotated the Rites of Zhou, and wrote the Zishuo.51 His writings
could never match those of the Han and Tang dynasties. He deserves the title of a specialized scholar. He failed, however, because he was short of comprehensive knowledge
and did not fully understand the real society around him, and consequently carried
out inappropriate policies. Therefore, he made a turnabout and gave up his vain hopes,
directing his energies to schools, with emphasis on comprehensive knowledge. This is
the concrete aspect of his ideas. What about the abstract, and how should one set
to work? To this, Shaoxi replied, “With the study of Chinese literature.” First, it can
endow one with the arts of clarity and conciseness and teach one to capture fully and
convey common speech and events with just a few words. Second, the study of Chinese
can enable one to understand the meaning and flavor of an essay, to judge the beauty,
and to uncover the central ideas of each of the entire corpus of writings dating from
ancient times to the present. The teachers and students of today fail to do this. “Expertise” is the so-called “comprehensive knowledge” of today; “strangeness” is the so-called
“profundity” of today. Actually, so-called “expertise” is nothing but accumulation of the
trivial and repetitious; accumulation of the trivial and repetitious cannot be considered
“comprehensive knowledge.” So-called “strangeness” is nothing but abstruseness and obscurity; abstruseness and obscurity cannot be considered “profundity.” As for the steps
to acquiring knowledge, there are those who are ignorant and inept even though they
have read the entire corpus of writings dating from ancient times to the present. History is the observation of the evidence of the past and the application to the present of
what is appropriate. Most crucial is the discovery of general principles and precedents.
In order to grasp the outline and ascertain the details pertaining to the entire duration
of a dynasty, there is no better way than to seek out its greatest and most powerful
men. Great and powerful men are representatives of an era, and by assembling one by
one every single piece of evidence relating to their lives, one will see that the whole
era is but an accessory to these representative people. In Chinese history, one should
concentrate on the descendants of the four tribes and build a foundation for the study
of Asian history. In Western history, one ought to concentrate on the comparison of
China with the West and choose from abroad what is useful at home. Geographical
studies concern questions of space. History and all other subjects are each therein
rooted. Maps are the most important tools of research, and filling them in by hand
is the most efficient method of using them. Geographical studies encompass the greatest amount of comprehensive knowledge, and all newspapers and journals contribute
to it. Newspapers and journals speak of education, and geographical studies include
pieces on education; newspapers and journals speak of local customs, and geographical studies also include essays on local customs. Politics, military affairs, industry,
transportation, religion, etc., all come within the scope of geographical studies. This
is little understood by scholars today. They browse through newspapers and journals
without comprehending their relevance. This is what is known as being unsystematic.
Calisthenics, drawing, music, and handicrafts are types of skills and arts. The superior
man can find in them the path to scholarship and self-cultivation. How is scholarship
found in these activities? They require logic and order. If one does perform poorly, one
will have no logic or order. Is there any greater path to scholarship than to expand
the mind and improve the character through these activities? How is self-cultivation
found in these activities? In the past, there have been men who practiced them, such
as Tao Kan, Cromwell, and Washington. Tao Kan moved bricks as a form of manual
labor;52 Cromwell hunted in the mountains; and Washington chopped wood in his back
garden. Men’s spirits are limited, while those things which exhaust the spirit are limitless. One cannot rely on the limited to control the limitless. The sages knew this and
renewed their spirits through these activities, thus making themselves inexhaustible.
Furthermore, games, handicrafts, drawing, and music are forms of aesthetic education.
Aesthetic education is the bridge between the present world and the essential world
(see Mr. Cai’s 1912 guidelines on the orientation of education),53 and therefore, no
subject can be done without in the schools. This is what Shaoxi had to say about
his method of approach to various subjects and their utility. He further introduced
me to the chapter entitled “On Perfecting, Nature” in An Introduction to Sociology,54
and I took this book and read it through. Afterward, I closed the book and exclaimed
to myself, “Here lies the path to scholarship.” For although this book is entitled An
Introduction to Sociology, its scope is not limited to sociology; it can also be seen as an
introduction to all scholarly disciplines. It indicates that the difficulties of scholarship
are divided into three categories: those in the object, those in the subject, and those in
the relation between subject and object. Those in the object are called “concealment
of the object”; those in the subject are called “inhibition of feeling and knowledge”; and
those in the relation between subject and object are called “academic distortion,” “national bias,” “customary prejudice,” “political delusion,” and “educational deficiency.” In
order to dispel these three difficulties, we must improve our nature. The nature is improved through learning, and learning is divided into three branches: the metaphysical,
the relational, and the phenomenal. Logic and mathematics belong to the metaphysical; physics and chemistry belong to the relational; and natural history belongs to
the phenomenal. Study these three fields, and the three difficulties will be dispelled.
Only when the mind is refined and the intelligence is perfected can one speak of real
scholarship. All this is linked together by psychology and physiology, which have great
bearing on sociology. And what I am saying does not apply only to scholarship; virtue
is also part of it. If a person does not suffer from concealment of object, or inhibition of feeling and knowledge, and if he furthermore displays no academic distortion,
national bias, historical prejudice, political delusion, or educational deficiency, he is
definitely a superior man [junzi]. What more is there to say? These days each time
I speak to anyone about scholarship, I introduce him to this book, believing it to be
most pertinent. If you have time, you should take a look at it. (Zhangfu has recently
read this book too.) What I have laid out above may be divided into three parts: first,
a discussion of the relation between specialization and comprehensive studies; then, an
exposition of the methods of research applied to each subject; then, a recounting of
what is to be prized about the book An Introduction to Sociology. However, something
even more important than all of this is yet to be discussed, and that is Chinese studies.
I speak of it last so as to command your greatest attention, and because of its great
importance. Chinese studies are both broad and deeply significant. Altogether, the
four categories of books55 include the records of about five thousand years, and even
if a person exhausts his life and intelligence, he can only understand a limited portion
of them. Is this not amazing? There is the study of how to be a human being, the
study of how to be a citizen, and the study of how to be an inhabitant of the world.
The study of how to be a human being is the study of the relationships between father
and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brothers, and the differences between
cotton and silk, beans and rice.56 The study of how to be a citizen is the study of the
history, geography, political doctrine, and artistic climate of one’s country. The study
of how to be an inhabitant of the world is a matter of world view and of international
relations. Certainly, the study of being a person or a citizen is easy, while the study of
being a Chinese is difficult. There are five thousand years of history, the land extends
over seven thousand li, political doctrine is extremely complex, and human feelings
and customs are broad and convoluted. How can we approach all this? If we were
Japan, with only three islands within our borders, or Germany, with a history of only
half a century and land equivalent in size to our two provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong alone, how easy things would be! Yet how difficult it is to be a citizen of China!
Therefore, general knowledge of Chinese studies is most crucial for our people. It has
been said in the past that if one wants to know one of the classics, one must first know
all of the classics. Today, if one wants to know Chinese studies, one must first possess
general knowledge. Selecting books is of primary importance; they must include all
manner of writings and encompass all manner of things. When the trunk shakes, the
branches wave; when the general signals with his banner, the troops brandish their
weapons. Mr. Zeng’s Zachao57 is such a book. In this book are selected the essential
documents belonging to the four divisions, dating from the most ancient antiquity to
the Qing dynasty. The method is as follows: For instance, “The Prince of Lii upon
Punishments” comes from the Book of Historical Documents.58 59 I have the Book of
Historical Documents available while reading this piece, and by referring to details in
related chapters from the Book of Historical Documents, I approach the entire work. It
is the same in the case of other classics. The “Biography of Bo Yi” is from the Records
of the Historian)1 While reading this piece, I have the Records of the
Historian at hand, and in referring to details in other chapters, I approach the
entire work. It is the same with other historical writings. As for philosophical works,
one starts with one philosopher and then goes on to other philosophers. As for the
category of literary collections, one starts with one collection and then goes on to
others. In this way, general knowledge of Chinese studies is ingrained in one’s head.
This is a broad summary. By following this method, one may well avoid the most
threatening enemy of scholarship, narrowness. I have been reading Zeng Wenzheng on
how to study books. He divided his studies into four fields. In studying ethics, he chose
one or two primary books (the Analects and the Jinsi and supplemented them with
others. In doing textual research, he did the same. In reading literature and economics,
he did the same. This is similar to Mr. Li’s approach, except that Li is concerned with

--- Notes

43 As noted above, Xiao Zisheng had already graduated in June 1915.
44 See the Doctrine of the Mean, XX, 19 (Legge, Vol. I, p. 413). The context is as follows: “He who
attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast. To this attainment there
are requisite the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the
clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it.”
45 The reference is to the paragraph in Zhu Xi’s commentary dealing with the opening passage,
especially the concept of “the investigation of things.” See Legge, Vol. I, p. 358.
46 Analects XII, XV (Legge, Vol. I, p. 257).
47 See Mencius, IV, II, XV (Legge, Vol. II, p. 323).
48 On Li Jinxi, zi Shaoxi, see the note to Mao’s letter to him dated November 9,1915.


49 The reference is to Yuan Shikai (1859–1916), zi Weiting, hao Rong’an, bom in Xiangcheng, Henan
Province. He occupied various high civil and military posts under the empire and became a favorite of
the Empress Dowager in 1898 after betraying the reformers, who had sought his support. In the early
years of the twentieth century, he built up the “New Army,” which played an important role in the
Revolution of 1911. Following Sun Yatsen’s election as first president of the Provisional Government
of the Republic, Yuan became involved in negotiations which led to his election, on February 14, 1912,
as Sun’s successor. In 1914, a new constitution was adopted which gave him dictatorial powers, but he
soon began scheming to establish himself as emperor. These plans were frustrated by widespread public
opposition and secret Japanese intervention, and he died of illness on June 6, 1916.
50 Wang Anshi (1021–1086), zi Jiepu, hao Banshan, a native of Jiangxi, was one of the most celebrated reformers in Chinese history. The changes which he introduced beginning in 1069, justified as
Mao indicates by his interpretation of classical texts, were too bold for his contemporaries and were
reversed before his death.
51 A work on Chinese characters, with particular attention to those formed by a combination of
two or more others.


52 On Tao Kan see note 146 to the “Classroom Notes.” He used to carry a hundred large bricks out
of his study every morning, and carry them back in the evening, to maintain his physical activity.
53 Cai Yuanpei had been in 1912 the first minister of education of the Nanjing provisional government. The guidelines referred to here were promulgated by him at that time under the title “Views
regarding the orientation of education.” Cai was also the translator of the book by Paulsen which Mao
annotated in 1918. For a detailed note regarding him, see the text on the “Strengthen Learning Society”
of July 21, 1919.


54 Qunxue yiyan, literally An Introduction to Sociology, was the title of Yan Fu’s translation of
Herbert Spencer’s Principles of Sociology.
55 Over the centuries, several different four-part classifications have been used in China, but Mao
chooses here to follow that of Li Chong (fourth century a.d.), a scholar-official under the Jin dynasty. The
four headings, enumerated below, were classics, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections.


56 These four commodities stand for the necessities of life, according to the biography of Cheng Yi
in the Song shi (History of the Song Dynasty).
57 An abbreviated title for Zeng Guofan’s Jingshi baijia zachao (Notes on the Various Schools of
Classics and Histories).
58 See the Book of Historical Documents, V, XXVII’(Legge, Vol. Ill, pp. 588–612).
59 The biography of Bo Yi (twelfth century B.c., son of the prince of the Guchu state) constitutes
Vol. 61 of Sima Qian’s Records of the Historian.