Answers to the Questionnaire
Regarding Lifetime Aspirations for Members
of the Young China Association
(December 1921)

Name
Mao Zedong
Prospective lifelong academic interest Pedagogics

Prospective lifelong career
Education

Date and place for starting career
Already started in July, 1919, in Hunan¹

Prospective lifelong means of
livelihood
Monthly salary for educational work,
and income from writing

Further comments
I have only started preparing for my
desired career. After three or four
years' preparation, I must go abroad to
study for at least five years; the place
will be Russia. Afterwards, on return, I
will set about the career I want to undertake.

Mao's reply was included in the results of this survey as reported in December 1921 by
the Executive of the Young China Association. We have taken as our source the version
reproduced in Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 2, p. 87.
1. Mao was in fact appointed a history teacher at the Xiuye Primary School in
Changsha immediately after his return from Shanghai on April 6, 1919, and held this post
until December of the same year.