Issued by the Political Department of the
                                                              Fourth Army of the Red Army
Xunwu Investigation¹
(May 1930)

Preface

The scale of this investigation is the largest of all I have done. In the past I
systematically investigated seven xian: Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Hengshan, Liling,
Changsha, Yongxin, and Ninggang.² The five Hunan xian were done during the
period of the Great Revolution (1926–1927). Yongxin and Ninggang were done
during the Jinggangshan period (November 1927). I placed the materials on the
Hunan investigations in the hands of my wife, Yang Kaihui. In all probability,
when she was killed, these five investigations were lost. I gave the Yongxin and
Ninggang investigations to a friend in the mountains when the Red Army left
Jinggangshan in January 1929. These were lost when Chiang Kaishek and the
Guangxi clique both attacked the Jinggangshan. I am not too concerned when I
lose things, but losing these investigations (especially the ones for Hengshan and
Yongxin) caused me pain. For an eternity I can never forget them. The Xunwu
investigation occurred in May 1930 when the Fourth Army arrived. At this time,
after the Pitou Conference (the joint conference of the Fourth Army Front Committee and the West Jiangxi Special Committee held on February 7),³ and before
the Tingzhou Conference (joint conference of the Fourth Army Front Committee
and the West Fujian Special Committee held in June),⁴ I still did not completely
understand the problem of China’s rich peasants. At the same time, in the area of
commerce, I was a complete outsider. Because of this I pursued this investigation with great energy. Throughout the time when I organized this investigation,
I was helped by the Xunwu Party secretary, Comrade Gu Bo (Gu is a middle
small landlord, a former primary school graduate, the son of a bankrupt small
teacher, and former chairman of the xian revolutionary committee and of the
xian soviet; he is from Huangxiang District).⁵

Several people gave me many documents and always came to the investigation meetings:

Guo Youmei. Fifty-nine sui,⁶ owner of a general store, former president of the
chamber of commerce; from Xunwu City District.

Fan Daming. Fifty-one sui, poor peasant, xian soviet official; from Xunwu City
District.

Zhao Jingqing. Thirty sui, middle peasant, former iron-founder, former small
merchant, former soldier and platoon leader under Chen Jiongming, now a
xian soviet committee delegate; from Shuangqiao District.

Liu Liangfan. Twenty-seven sui, formerly involved in xian tax collection, now
chairman of the Xunwu City suburban township soviet; from Xunwu City
District.

Those who gave us some documents and who sometimes attended our meetings were:

Li Dashun. Twenty-eight sui, poor peasant, a former district soviet delegate.

Liu Maozai. Fifty sui, an old examination degree student [tongcheng], once

The “Xunwu Investigation” was originally scheduled for publication in 1937, and the final
chapter of the report was at one time included in the draft table of contents for Vol. 1 of
Mao’s Selected Works, which was issued in 1951, but the work did not actually appear in
print until thirty years later. It first became available in Mao Zedong nongcun diaocha
wenji (Collected Writings of Mao Zedong on Rural Investigations) (Beijing: Renmin
chubanshe, 1982), pp. 41–181. A few further corrections and improvements were made in
this carefully edited text when the Xunwu Investigation was incorporated into Vol. 1 of
the Mao Zedong wenji, pp. 118–245, and it is the 1993 version which we have followed
here. For details regarding the authorship of our English translation, see Note 1 below.

____________________

1. This translation of Mao’s Xunwu Investigation is reproduced from Mao Zedong,
Report from Xunwu, Trans., and with an introduction and notes, by Roger R. Thompson
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), with the kind permission of Professor
Thompson and of the publisher. Apart from changes required in order to make the text
conform to the usage employed in these volumes (for example, the replacement of
“county” by “xian”), this excellent version has been reproduced almost verbatim. A few
modifications of detail have been made after consultation with the translator. Roger
Thompson’s monograph contains, in the introduction and notes, a wealth of information
about the history of Xunwu, conditions prevailing there in 1930, and the political context
in which Mao produced this document, as well as detailed maps of the area. It would not
have been appropriate to include all this material in our edition. Some of his notes have
been reproduced below; they are marked at the
grass-roots revolution are strongly urged to co
Professor Thompson’s original work.
2. The first five of these are in Hunan; Yongxin and Ninggang are in Jiangxi.
3. Regarding the Pitou Conference, also called the February 7 Conference, see above,
the three documents dated February 7, February 14, and February 16, 1930, emanating
from it, and the notes to these texts.
4. The Tingzhou Conference refers to the joint conference of the Front Committee of
the Fourth Red Army and the Western Fujian Special Committee which took place in June
1930 in Tingzhou (now Changting), in southwestern Fujian. The conference discussed
political, military, and economic issues. In regard to land redistribution, it adopted a
strongly leftist line, which finds expression in the resolution “On the Problem of the Rich
Peasants,” translated below.
5. Throughout this report, Mao tends to write extremely long paragraphs. In Roger
Thompson’s monograph, these are broken up to make the text more readable. In this
documentary collection, we have on the whole followed Mao’s own paragraphing, while
deviating from this principle occasionally. In the Chinese original, the three lists of people
which appear below are all run together with what goes before, making the text difficult to
follow. Other similar departures are not mentioned in the notes.
6. Throughout Mao gives ages in terms of sui, the Chinese system that reckons age in
terms of the number of calendar years in which a person has lived.—RT.
operated a gambling house and had a small business; originally a small landlord but declined and became a poor peasant; was a delegate to the _xian_
revolutionary committee; now a delegate to a district soviet.

Those who came to a few investigation meetings and who gave us a small
number of documents were:

Liu Xingwu. Forty-six _sui_, peasant; had a small business; a delegate to a township soviet; from Xunwu City District.
Zhou Buying. Twenty-three _sui_, student at Mei _xian_ Normal School, chairman of
the district government; from Shipaixia.
Chen Zhuoyun. Thirty-nine _sui_, graduate of a local self-government school, a former
worker in a tailoring shop; had a small business; a former primary school teacher.
Guo Qingru. Sixty-two _sui_, a _xiucai_, participated in the imperial provincial examinations, a former primary school teacher; from Xunwu City District.

Our investigation meetings involved these eleven people and myself. I was
the chairman and secretary. Our investigation, which lasted over ten days, took
place while the Red Army units were organizing the masses in Anyuan, Xunwu,
and Pingyuan. This gave me time to organize these investigation meetings.
Xunwu _xian_ is located at the junction of three provinces— Fujian,
Guangdong, and Jiangxi. Since conditions in the neighboring _xian_ of the three
provinces are similar, conditions in Xunwu _xian_ can serve as an example.
This investigation has one great defect: there is no analysis of middle peasants, hired hands, or vagrants. Also, in the section “Traditional Land Relation-ships,” there is no separate discussion of the landholdings of rich peasants,
middle peasants, or poor peasants.

February 2, 1931, Xiaobu, Ningdu _xian_

Chapter I. Administrative Jurisdictions in Xunwu

There are seven districts, which include four wards in Xunwu City and twelve
_bao_.7
The seven districts are:

Xunwu City District: including East, West, South, and North wards; this is the
administrative center of the _xian_.
Renfeng District8 (or Huangxiang _bao_): there are two administrative centers in
this district, Gongping and Changpu (or Huangxiang), with a bureau in each
center.
Shuangqiao District (or Shuangqiao _bao_): divided into thirteen _duan_ [sections],
with Liuche the administrative center.
Nanba District: two _bao_, Nanqiao and Bafu, with Niudouguang the administrative center.
Jiansan District: three _bao_, Xiangshan, Yaogu, and Zixi, with Jitan the administrative center.
Chengjiang District: three _bao_, Xunwu, Dadun, and Guiling, with Chengjiang
the administrative center.
Sanshui District: two _bao_, Sanbiao and Shuiyuan, with Sanbiao the administrative center.

There was no _xian_ government in Xunwu before the Wanli period [1573–
1620] in the Ming dynasty; Xunwu _xian_ was established during the Wanli period. Before that time, part of Xunwu was under the jurisdiction of Anyuan _xian_
in Jiangxi Province. This was Shiqi _bao_, which comprised the present
Chengjiang, Sanshui, Renfeng, and Xunwu City districts; the other part was
under the jurisdiction of Pingyuan _xian_ in Guangdong Province and comprised
the present Shuangqiao, Nanba, and Jiansan districts.

Chapter II. Transportation and Communication in Xunwu

Waterways

The Xunwu River originates in the Pangu’ai area of the Guiling Mountains.
Passing through Chengjiang, Jitan, Shipaixia, Chetou, and Liuche, it merges into
the Longchuan River, which goes down to Huizhou [in Guangdong]. The Xunwu
River is a tributary of the Dongjiang [East River], and ships can go as far
upstream as Chengjiang. There are three big market towns [_xu_] along the river:
Chengjiang, Jitan, and Liuche, with Jitan the biggest.
Ships can also go from Shipaixia to Heling in Xunwu City District (10 _li_
south of the town).

Land Routes

With Shipaixia being the hub, there are four main roads. One road goes to
Yunmenling (110 _li_) via Jitan (30 _li_), Chengjiang (60 _li_), and Pangu’ai. This is

7. According to a map in the 1881 edition of the gazetteer for Xunwu _xian_, the area
beyond Xunwu City was divided into twelve _bao_ (lit., fortress) and four wards (_xiang_).
Except for Renfeng (Huangxiang) District and Shuangqiao District, the sub-_xian_ districts
in Republican Xunwu _xian_ took their names from a consolidation of the Qing jurisdictions: Nanqiao _bao_ and Bafu _bao_ became Nanba District; Xiangshan _bao_, Yaogu _bao_, and
Zixi _bao_ became Jiansan District; Xunwu _bao_, Dadun _bao_, and Guiling
_bao_ became Chengjiang District (taking the name of the major market); and Sanbiao _bao_
and Shuiyuan _bao_ became Sanshui District. See _Changning xianzhi_ (Gazetteer for
Changning [Xunwu _xian_]) (1881), 1: 2b–3a. Until January 1914, Xunwu _xian_ was known
as Changning _xian_.—RT.

8. Renfeng District was renamed Huangxiang District after the Xunwu _xian_ soviet
government was established in May 1930.
the main road to Guangdong Province for Xingguo, Yudu, and Huichang xian.
Another goes to Anyuan City (140 li) via Xunwu City (30 li), Sanbiao (60 li),
and Taiyangguan. This is the main road to Mei xian for Xinfeng and Anyuan.
Another road goes to Bachi in Pingyuan xian (45 li) via Zhucun and
Niudouguang (20 li). This is the main road to Mei xian for Huichang and An-
yuan. The roads from Huichang and Anyuan merge at Shipaixia and then go to
Mei xian together. Another road goes to Xingning and Wuhua xian via Chetou
(20 li), Liuche (35 li), Huangtangdu (60 li) and Luofu (95 li) and Luogang (125
li) in Xingning xian. This last road is the main way from Xunwu to Huizhou.

There are some other, smaller roads. One goes from Chengjiang to Luotang
(30 li) in Wabujie of Anyuan, then from Luotang south to Xiaba and then north
to [Yun]Menling. Another road goes from Jitan to Pingyuan (60 li) via Xiaotian,
Chuandu, and Shuyuan. Another road goes from Xunwu City to Wuping (180 li)
via Daluxia, Zixi, Jianxi, Liche, and Laidi. Another road goes from Xunwu City
to Hushan (60 li) in Nanxiang in Anyuan xian via Shangping, then north from
Hushan to Anyuan City (60 li), and then west to Taiping (36 li) and Egong (60
li). Another road goes from Xunwu City to Xinxu (60 li), then from Xinxu to
Egong (80 li) in Dingnan, passing through Gongping (3 li) and Liangguangting
(45 li), then south from Egong and then west to Dingnan City, passing through
Hezi on the way to Xinfeng. The following roads are even smaller: one from
Xinxu to Longchuan City (240 li) via Changpu (20 li) and Aipaikou; and another
road from Changpu and Aipaikou to Xingning City (180 li).

Xunwu City is 90 li from Menling, 180 li from Wuping, 240 li from Mei xian,
240 li from Xingning, 110 li from Anyuan, 310 li from Longchuan, and 160 li
from Dingnan (via Shangping, Hushan, Taiping, and Egong).

Telegraph

The Telegraph Bureau was moved from Jitan to Xunwu City in 1922. The
telegraph line goes from Jitan to Xunwu City to Yunmenling and to Pingyuan.

Postal Service

There is a third-class post office in Xunwu City. One postal route goes to Men-ling via Jitan and Chengjiang. Another route goes to Bachi via Niudouguang and
then from Bachi to Mei xian. Another route from Bachi goes to Pingyuan.
Another route goes to Anyuan via Sanbiao. There are “postal agents” in
Chengjiang, Jitan, and Niudouguang and “receiving offices” in Sanbiao and
Shipaixia. There is postal service on the Menling route on the second, fifth, and
eighth days of the [ten-day cycle of the] lunar calendar.9 The Bachi route has

service on the first, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth, and the Anyuan route on the
second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth. Letters to Ganzhou are sent via the
Anyuan route, and those to Yudu and Xingguo via the Menling route. Usually,
amounts up to 200 yuan can be remitted through the post office in Xunwu City.
With advance notice up to 500 yuan can be remitted. But otherwise not.

During the March 25 uprising the year before last,10 the director of the post office
was seized and fined 500 yuan. This time the new director, fearing capture, fled first.
The director of the Telegraph Bureau was killed during the March 25 uprising.

The Means of Land Transportation

Just as in Guangdong Province, there are no vehicles on any roads. The major
means of land transportation are the shoulders of humans, and next mules and
horses. There are many mules and horses on the road from Xunwu City to Mei
xian and some on the roads from Xunwu City to Menling and Jitan, but none on
the other roads. There are more mules than horses, but they are generally called
“horses.” The goods carried by horse are mainly salt and soybeans.

Chapter III. Commerce in Xunwu

Business from [Yun] Menling to Mei Xian

Of the goods brought from Shicheng and Ruijin xian, rice and soybeans are the
most important, with an [annual] worth of several hundred thousand yuan. Tea-oil is
the major item of trade from Xingguo xian,11 although some rice (not much) is
imported from there. No goods are brought from Yudu or Huichang xian.

Four boatloads of oil come from Menling to every market in Chengjiang (the
oil is carried by humans from Menling to Chengjiang and then loaded onto
boats). Every boat carries 12 Dan12 of oil, and each Dan is worth 30 yuan

9. The thirty-day lunar month is divided into three ten-day periods. In addition to
postal deliveries, periodic markets were also scheduled in terms of the lunar calendar. For
example, a market town might host a regularly scheduled market on the first, fourth, and
seventh days of the ten-day cycle.—RT.

10. The March 25 uprising was the xian-wide uprising that was organized by the
Xunwu Communist Party, which led the peasants and young students on March 25, 1928.
11. Chayou and muyou refer to the oil pressed from the seeds of the tea-oil plant. They
are used mainly as a foodstuff. “Tea-oil” (chayou) is pressed from the camellia plant.—RT.
12. The Chinese word dan stands for two different characters, one of them signifying a
measure of capacity, and the other a measure of weight. The exact value of these units varied
from place to place, or even according to the commodities being measured. Here the reference
is presumably to the dan as a unit of weight (sometimes called a picul), variously defined as 50
kilos or 133 pounds. The other dan, roughly equivalent to a bushel or 1 hectolitre, was a dry
volume measure used for rice. It occurs very frequently in Mao’s Xunwu report as the unit in
which land rents were fixed. As pointed out in a note to the volume containing the Chinese text
of this document, however, Mao often uses the two terms loosely and interchangeably. For a
more detailed discussion, see Appendix B, “Weights and Measures in Xunwu,” in Thompson,
pp. 224–25. In this volume, we have distinguished between these two characters by capitalizing the transcription when it refers to the unit of weight.
land or sold to other towns for slaughter. The fee for brokers is a half mao16 from
both the buyer and the seller. The ox tax paid to the government by the tax
farmer is 1,740 yuan each year. In the past “bidding” (toubiao) [for the post of
tax farmer] took place annually, and the one who offered the most obtained the
bid. But recently, the bidding has been held once every three years. The tax is
figured by the head, at 0.4 yuan for each ox and 0.5 yuan for each water buffalo.
The tax is called xiang. After the tax [is paid], the character xiang is burned on
the hide of the ox with a lime stamp, and the buyer can lead the ox away. Besides
this tax, a levy of 0.1 yuan per ox was added recently. The tax that the tax farmer
sends to the government plus his own income totals 2,000 yuan or more each
year. Based on a tax rate of 0.4 yuan per ox, more than 4,500 oxen should be
sold in Xunwu each year; thus, the figure of 3,320 cited above is a low estimate.

Pigs

Most come from Xinfeng; some are from Anyuan. Pigs arrive by two routes:
most come from Anyuan xian to Mei xian via Xunwu City, Niudouguang, and
Bachi. Some come from Nanxiang in Anyuan xian to Mei xian via Gongping,
Xinxu, Liuche, and Zhongkeng in Pingyuan xian. A total of five thousand pigs,
valued at 225,000 yuan, arrives via these two routes. The average weight is 100
jin, and at a price of 0.4 yuan a jin, the [average] value of a pig is 45 yuan. The
Xunwu government levies a tax of 0.2 yuan per pig.

Business from Mei Xian to [Yun] Menling

Most business is in the following five categories:

Foreign Goods.
Tooth powder, toothbrushes, flashlights, rubber shoes, soaps,
foreign umbrellas, lanterns, and foreign iron [tinned iron] are major trading
items. Some of these items, for example, tooth powder and toothbrushes, are
made in China, but are usually called foreign goods.

Sea Delicacies.
Kelp, sea cucumbers, fish maw, squid, mussels, and salted fish
are all major trade items.

Salt.
Ten years ago it came mostly from Huizhou, but three or four years ago
most of it began coming from Chaozhou. This is because merchants began
using a different route. Right now most salt is again coming from Huizhou
because of the blockade set up by reactionaries in Bachi and Zhongkeng
against Red areas. The blockade also stops salt from arriving from Chaozhou.
After arriving in Menling, most salt goes directly to Xingguo.

Kerosene.
Mostly Asia Brand.

16. The mao was both a unit of account and an actual silver coin. It was defined as
one-tenth of a yuan, though the 20-cent coin was more common than the 10-cent coin.—RT.

Textiles. Most textiles come from Xingning; a much smaller amount comes from
Mei xian. Both places purchase foreign yarn to make into cloth. The weaving
industry in Xingning is well developed, and the businesses there are generally
larger than those in Mei xian. Foreign yarn (from foreign countries) [is also
imported over this route].

A good quantity of sugar and flour is also traded.
There is no transportation service from Mei xian to Menling. Most goods are
carried by people. All salt is carried by horses; the only transportation service is
to Chengjiang by boat. Part of the flour is also carried by horses.
Porters carry a Dan of goods from Menling to Mei xian and then bring back
another Dan of goods.

Business from Mei Xian to Anyuan and Xinfeng

The goods traded are the same as those to Menling, but in smaller amounts. The
ratio is about four to six. This is because Anyuan and Xinfeng comprise a small
area, whereas the goods going to Menling are sold in Ruijin, Shicheng, Yudu,
and Xingguo—a very large area.

Products from Huizhou

The only major trade is in salt. Apart from a little salted fish and sugar sold to
Xunwu, there is nothing else.

Xunwu’s Exports

The goods listed in the sections above are imported to or pass through Xunwu. In
this section exported goods are listed.

First is rice. Mei xian is short of rice; so it is twice as expensive there as in
Xunwu, and a lot of rice is supplied by Xunwu to Mei xian every year. Rice from
Chengjiang, Sanbiao, Jitan (in Xiangshan), and Xunwu City District is exported
to Mei xian through Niudouguang, Bachi, and Dazhe. Rice from Longtu, Yutian,
Liuche, Fangtian, and the upper half of Huangxiang District is exported to Mei
xian via Zhongkeng. Rice from Datong, the lower half of Huangxiang District,
Datian, Lantian, and Douyan, as well as from Longchuan [xian] is exported to
Mei xian via Cenfeng and Shizheng. The amount carried over these three routes
is almost equal—about 100 Dan a day or 36,000 Dan a year. At a price of 8 yuan
a Dan, the value is 288,000 yuan.

The second is tea. Tea grows in Shangping and Xiaping in the West Ward,
and Tuhe, Gangsang, and Ezihu in the South Ward. Tea is picked in March,
April, May, July, and August. Twenty Dan (70 jin per Dan) are exported at each
market, for a total of 2,000 Dan at the one hundred markets held each year. With