[Zhuguo], Dong [Yingbin], Shen [Ke], and Wang [Yizhe], and those of the two
Gaos,2 Tang [Enbo], and Yang [Hucheng] will be sent here to the Military
Affairs Commission for training.
Mao [Zedong] Zhou [Enlai] Yang [Shangkun]
Letter to Du Bincheng1
(August 13, 1936)
To Mr. Bincheng and his associates:
Your return during the Midautumn Festival is an act of ample kindness, and
hearing your wise views on resisting Japan and saving the nation won my immense admiration. At present the national calamity is worsening day by day, the
traitors are acting in a savage manner, and our beloved country is in extreme
peril. The Mongolian puppet army is launching an attack in the direction of
Suiyuan, and the Hebei-Chahar Political Affairs Council is undergoing a qualitative reorganization. All such things reflect the intensification of Japanese banditry. We, your younger brothers, have issued repeated appeals, calling for the
whole country to unite as one, without regard to parties and factions, to resist
foreign aggression. There has been steady progress over the last year. Mr. [Yang]
Hucheng has agreed to a united front, and it is anticipated that further progress
will be made. The time is ripe; it is, indeed, precisely the time to take responsibility for resisting Japan and saving the nation. One word from you gentlemen is
enough to arouse the nation, so it is fervently hoped that you will accelerate your
driving force, and also that great efforts will be made in persuading the various
units of the Northwest. In the great and glorious cause of saving the Northwest,
saving North China, and saving the whole of China, we wish to exert ourselves
to the utmost together with you gentlemen. Comrade Zhang2 is being sent especially to call on you with reverence and receive your instructions respectfully in
all matters. The goal is in sight and great efforts toward it are anticipated. As for
other matters, we have a tacit understanding and I will not go into details.
Wishing you days of peace and comfort.
Respectfully yours,
Mao Zedong


2. Gao Guizi and Gao Shuangcheng.


We have translated this letter from Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 36-37, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.



--- Notes



1. Du Bincheng (1888-1947) was a native of Shaanxi. As chief adviser to the
Seventeenth Route Army, he had played an active role in encouraging Yang Hucheng to
accept the Communists' policy of an anti-Japanese united front.



2. Zhang Wenbin (1910-1944), a native of Pingjiang in Hunan, was sent by the Red
Army to make contact with Yang Hucheng's forces. He later became the provincial Party
secretary in Guangdong, and died in prison in 1944.