The "Provincial Constitution Sutra"
and Zhao Hengti
(August 15, 1923)

"... [S]ince the western Hunan problem arose,¹ Mr. Zhao's position has been
shaken and he has had to rely on the Provincial Constitution to defend himself.
Thus a few days ago, he ordered his henchmen, such as Fang Kegang and Li
Jimin,² to bribe public bodies to send telegrams, and to create a mass movement
... in order to protect Mr. Zhao, under [the slogan of] upholding the Provincial
Constitution.... A street demonstration was fixed for 8:00 A.M. on the fifth....
These people sent letters mostly to worker organizations, figuring that workers
are simpleminded, and that a thousand or more would surely show up. To their
amazement, they waited that day until 10:00, but not a single organization arrived, and even the few individuals who did come included nobody but their
close friends. They were terribly nervous and upset, so they sent people out in all
directions to such places as the China Labor Union, which is no more than a
pack of thugs,³ and even to the Temple for Nurturing Perfection [Yangji yuan]
and the Buddha Transformation Lecture Hall [Fohua jiangyanyuan]. By giving
each person fifty cents and some breakfast to eat, they hired over a hundred
people to come out and march on the street at 12:00. Before the march they held
a meeting at the slide projection theater of the Education Association, attended
by a party of 120 to 130 monks and beggars. The meeting began:

1) The monk Chipei, who presided, announced the guiding principles of the
meeting. His remarks can be summed up as follows: that the Provincial Constitu-tion [Sheng xianfa] might better be called the Provincial Constitution Sutra
[Sheng xianjing], as in the Buddhist sutras... The monks and beggars in the
audience flailed their arms wildly.

2) After the meeting, they set out: In front were two large banners, one
reading, 'Association for Upholding the Provincial Constitution,' and the other
'Petitionary Assembly of the People of the Province.'

The first group of marchers-twenty or thirty people in long gowns and mandarin jackets, truly the dignified representatives of the people of the province.

The second group of marchers-five or six people from the China Labor Union.

The third group of marchers-forty or fifty bald-headed, loose-robed individuals
from the Buddha Transformation Lecture Troupe.

The fourth group of marchers-about forty from the Temple of Nurturing Perfection.

A mixture of all kinds and types... their performance was truly a hilarious
farce...." (See the Republican Daily)

We have always opposed a federation of self-governing provinces, because it
would not be a federation of self-governing provinces but rather a federation of
military governors in their separatist regimes. We have always opposed the provincial constitutions concocted by the warlords and corrupt politicians, which falsely
usurp the name, because they cannot serve as safeguards for the people, but are, on
the contrary, safeguards for the powers and interests seized by the warlords and
corrupt politicians. Hunan is the best proof of this. Zhao Hengti has now become the
stately and magnificent "Guardian of the Constitution," but for the last two years since the Provincial Constitution came into existence-he has cruelly massacred the
workers (such as Huang and Pang),4 closed down newspapers (Dagongbao, Zizhi
xinbao [Self-rule News], and Xin Xiang bao [New Hunan Reporter]), and robbed the
people of the freedom of correspondence (his postal censors have never been withdrawn even for a single day). He has taken away the freedom of assembly and of
association (by closing down the Rickshaw-Pullers' Union, the Rice Millers' Union,
and the Society for Supporting the Conduct of Foreign Affairs,5 and repeatedly

masses also began with a fight with Cai Juyou7 over the opium tax (the so-called
special tax). Zhao Hengti, this outrageously and unpardonably wicked creature,
still stands there boasting and beating the drum in the phoney name of "protecting the constitution," all unconcerned that he is causing the Hunanese people to
die of shame!

--- Notes

1. In June 1923 the commander of the Ninth and Tenth Brigades in western Hunan,
Cai Juyou, declared western Hunan independent of Changsha. Cai organized his forces
into an army of opposition to Governor Zhao Hengti, which then joined forces with Tan
Yankai's army. A number of Zhao's generals were unwilling to fight Cai Juyou, and Zhao
was faced with the problem of losing control of western Hunan.

2. At about this time, Zhao Hengti appointed his follower Li Jimin principal of First
Normal School in the hope of putting an end to radicalism and anti-Zhao activities there.
Although troops were sent to the school repeatedly, organized resistance to Li's appointment continued until early 1924.

3. On the China Labor Union (Zhonghua gonghui), see the section on the labor movement in the text dated July 1, 1923, "Hunan under the Provincial Constitution."


4. On the execution of Huang Ai and Pang Renquan, see the note to the text of
December 14, 1922, entitled "The True Circumstances of the Negotiations... with Governor Zhao."

5. The Hunan Society for Supporting the Conduct of Foreign Affairs [Hunan waijiao
houyuan hui] had been established on April 4, 1923, to promote the boycott of Japanese
goods referred to above, in the note to Mao's letter of March 7, 1923. It played a leading
role in this movement, and its inspectors were active on the docks on June 1, when Japanese marines fired into the crowd, killing two people and seriously wounding nine others.
Zhao Hengti, bent on conciliating Japan, proclaimed martial law, and ordered the dissolution of
the Society on April 9. On these events, see McDonald, Urban Origins, pp. 201-205.
forbidding students' and workers' meetings). He has shielded opium traffic and
opium production by his troops, bought elections (by sending his henchmen to
fabricate the vote count for the Provisional Constitution, using money to create
his own Provincial Assembly, and buying the provincial governorship).6 He has
exacted contributions from merchants (the head of the Changsha General Chamber of Commerce has been forced to flee several times), he has levied from the
peasants advance payments of land taxes (some xian have been forced to make
advance payments down to the year 1928), and he has violated the legally established budget ratios, reducing educational expenses and raising military expenses. He has colluded with Wu Peifu and Xiao Yaonan. In every single case,
he has donned the mask of the Provincial Constitution, but has acted in fact as
the enemy of the people! His present calling up of troops and mobilization of the

6. When Zhao Hengti first succeeded Tan Yankai as military commander-in-chief
(zong siling) of Hunan in November 1921, the office of civil governor (shengzhang) was
assumed by Lin Zhiyu. Following a heavily manipulated electoral process, which lasted
from June to September 1922, Zhao Hengti was declared the "popularly elected" civil
governor, and thereafter, until he was driven out of the province in March 1926, he held
both titles.

7. One of the reasons Cai Juyou declared the area under his control independent of
Changsha in June 1923 was a disagreement with Zhao Hengti over his opium income.

--- Notes

This article originally appeared in Xiangdao No. 36, August 15, 1923. Our translation is
based on the text as reproduced in Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 1, pp. 91-92.