Order on Rectifying Military Bearing
and Discipline
(March 21, 1930)1
This order is to be followed. Given that the purpose of our army's work here is to
win over the masses and to train ourselves, it follows that all rules regarding
military bearing and discipline must be strictly observed. Even the slightest
slackening will have adverse effects on the masses. We have therefore issued
repeated orders in the hope that officers and men alike will follow the Three
Rules of Discipline and the Six Main Points for Attention² in order to make
widely known to the ordinary masses the spirit and principles of the Red Army.
This will benefit the revolution and is also what the officers and men are happy
to do. Therefore, anyone who contravenes military discipline and bearing, no
matter to what degree, will be subject to thorough investigation. It is especially
forbidden to prowl around in the prostitutes' quarters, to avoid contracting a
pernicious disease, with all kinds of evil consequences, which does harm to
one's own health as well as serious damage to the public good. Especially as it is
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 141-42, where it is taken
from the same 1942 documentary collection cited in the note to the previous text.
1. This is order No. 3 of the Fourth Red Army Headquarters, promulgated at 5 P.M.
on March 21.
2. Published accounts of the origin of these principles diverge substantially. According
to the latest and most authoritative sources, Mao formulated the Three Main Rules of
Discipline on October 24, 1927, as he was about to lead his forces up the Jinggangshan.
The Six Points for Attention were put forward on January 25, 1928, and Mao formally
promulgated the entire set of principles in April 1928. At that time, the Three Main Rules
of Discipline were: (1) Obey orders in all your actions; (2) Don't take anything from the
workers and peasants; (3) When attacking the local bullies, turn over [whatever you take
from them]. The Six Points for Attention were: (1) Put back the doors [you have taken
down for bed boards]; (2) Put back the straw [you have used for bedding]; (3) Speak
politely; (4) Pay fairly for what you buy; (5) Return everything you borrow; (6) Pay for
anything you damage. In January 1929, Mao added two more Points for Attention:
(7) Don't bathe within sight of women, and (8) Defecate only in the latrines. In 1930, Mao
formulated another principle, which replaced either the seventh or the eighth rule: Don't
search the pockets of captives. The resulting Three Main Rules of Discipline and
Eight Points for Attention remained in force with minor variations until 1949, and
were reissued in standardized form on October 10, 1947. See Jiang Siyi (ed.),
Zhongguo gongchandang jundui zhengzhi gongzuo qishinian shi (History of Seventy
Years of Political Work by the Army of the Chinese Communist Party), Vol. 1 (Beijing:


Jiefangjun chubanshe, 1991), pp. 147-48.