Letter to Li Si’an257 (November 25,1920)
Dear Sister Qinwen,
I received your letter in August. Later I got another long letter and some printed
matter you had sent from Singapore. Thank you very much for your kindness. I have
been too busy to reply, but I trust that you will forgive me. Xiang River [Review]
has not yet come out. Hunan needs some resolute people who will devote themselves
to practical reforms. Do not think that the job can be done simply by a few articles.
Although the truly eminent persons are not yet firmly established, less eminent persons
(the politicians) are very well fortified in their positions. I think that the best way to
deal with them is to ignore them. Instead, we need to think of other ways, create
other conditions, and make long-term preparations and precise plans. Once we have
developed real strength, results will naturally manifest themselves. We do not need to
strive for temporary superiority over them. Do you agree? Although I imagine you are
busy, I urge you to spend some time reading new books and newspapers. I also hope
that you will be able to continue your self-examination and become aware of your own
shortcomings. You asked me to pass on your last letter to Jixu.258 I have already done
so. Please tell me how you are doing when you have time.
Your younger brother,
Zedong
November 25
Letter To Zhang Guoji259 (November 25,1920)
Dear Yisheng,
I have received two successive letters from you,260 but have not replied for a long
time. I am very sorry for that! I basically agree with you on all the six points you
mention concerning the operation of the Society: (1) The need to publish reports on
the Society. We have already decided to issue two new publications, one containing the
correspondence among members, and the other reports on the Society’s affairs. (2) The
desirability of seriousness in the admission of new members. (3) No applicant should be
discriminated against on the basis of sex or age. The consensus of my consultation in
Shanghai this last summer with Kunfu, Zanzhou, Zizhang, Yinbo, Wangcheng, Yun’an,
257 Li Si’an (1892–1969), also known as Qinwen, was born in Changsha. Miss Li was a student of the
Hunan Canye Training Institute and an early member of the New People’s Study Society. At this time
she was in Singapore teaching at the Qingcheng Women’s School. On returning to China in 1925, she
joined the Chinese Communist Party and took up a post as head of the Women’s Department of the
Hunan Federation of Trade Unions. Her letter to Mao was written from Singapore on August 19, 1920.
258 Jiang Zhuru. See note to text of December 18, 1919.
259 For a note on Zhang Guoji, see Mao’s letter of February 19, 1920, to Tao Yi.
260 The first, concerning the New People’s Study Society, was written on May 23, 1920, and the
second, about the Southeast Asia News Agency, on September 19, 1920.

Dunxiang, Jiru, and Yusheng at Bansong Park261 and a similar one later with fellow
members here in Changsha, was that each new member should be required to have the
following three qualities: (a) to be pure, (b) to be sincere, and (c) to have a desire to
make progress. He or she will also need five personal references. Upon approval by the
review committee, his or her membership will be solemnly announced to all members
of the Society. This is precisely in agreement with your proposition. (The comrades
in Southeast Asia must, of course, be contacted.) (4) The need for a headquarters for
the Society. This is also urgent. We will have to find a proper office for the Society in
Changsha in the near future. The acquisition of periodicals and books will be helpful for
members to do research. Changsha, Paris, and Southeast Asia should each have their
own supplies, and the costs should be defrayed by the local members. (5) Fund-raising.
I think as long as the members
pay their annual dues, we should have enough to cover the day-to-day expenses.
The only additional expenses will be the printing of the correspondence and of the
reports. But these will not be too costly and can be defrayed by the members at
the time. The membership directory is included in the report on the Society’s affairs.
We should be able to put out one issue by the end of this year. The organization
of the Southeast Asia News Agency is of utmost importance. But I have a different
opinion on Hunanese going to Southeast Asia, namely that those Hunanese who go
there should follow the example of Mr. Li Shizeng262 and others in sending students to
France to learn cosmopolitanism, but not colonialism. Cosmopolitanism seeks to benefit
not only oneself but also others. In essence, it is an ism to benefit everyone. Colonial
policy, however, seeks only to benefit oneself and not to benefit others. In essence,
it is a policy for benefiting oneself at the expense of others. With cosmopolitanism,
there is no place that one does not feel at ease, as can be seen from the case of Li
Shizeng and others. With colonialism, there is no place one can hide for shame, as
illustrated by the Japanese. Southeast Asian civilization is parochial; therefore, those
Hunanese who go there should take upon themselves the responsibility of developing its
civilization. If all of you can initiate a new culture movement there, to introduce the new
culture recently generated within China, the inhabitants of Southeast Asia (not only
261 Kunfu was a Hunanese, Xiong Guangchu; Zanzhou was Chen Shaoxiu; Zizhang was Xiao Zhifan; Yinbo was Peng Huang; Wangcheng was Liu Mingyan; Yun’an was Wei Bi; Dunxiang was Zhou
Dunxiang; Jiru was Lao Junzhan; Yusheng was Ouyang Ze. They were among the twelve participants
in the conference of New People’s Study Society members held in Bansong Park in Shanghai on May
8, 1920, just before the Hunanese work-study students set sail for France on May 11. (These students
were Kunpu, Zanzhou, Zizhang, Wangcheng, Yusheng, and Zhang Huai.) On this occasion, Mao’s formulation of the goals of the society, “To transform China and the world,” was adopted and Mao was
made responsible for activities in Changsha.
262 Li Shizeng, also known as Li Yuying, from Hebei Province, had been one of the founders of the
Xin shiji (New Century) anarchist group in Paris in 1907. He played a more conservative role in political
and academic affairs under the Guomindang beginning in the late 1920s, but at this time, as a leader
of the returned students from France with a strong interest in education, he understandably appeared
to Mao in a positive light.