The Heart of Our Policy Is to Unite
with Chiang to Resist Japan
(August 26, 1936, 10:00 P.M.)
Dear Elder Brother Xiaokai:¹

1. Because there are beginning to be effective changes in Nanjing, the core of
our policy is to work with Chiang to resist Japan, and it is necessary that brother
Li Yi² continue to maintain unity with Nanjing.
2. Your letter and the Nanjing secret code were received today, but Zhang
Zihua³ has not arrived. It is now urgent that you go to Nanjing for the purpose of
negotiations, and that you carry with you a handwritten letter and the secret
code. It is also necessary to report in person the overall guidelines of the negotiations. If you are unable to go by way of Yan'an, however, the trip back and forth
would take too long. Please reply right away, whether you are able to go by way
of Yan'an.

Dong

We have translated this telegram from Wenxian he yanjiu, 1985, no. 3, p. 3.
1. Xiaokai was the pen name of Pan Hannian (1906–1966), a native of Jiangsu, who
had joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1925 in Shanghai. During the period of the
Jiangxi Soviet Republic, he had been head of the Propaganda Department of the Central
Committee. From this time on, Mao frequently employed him in negotiations with the
Guomindang.
2. I.e., Zhang Xueliang.
3. Zhang Zihua was an underground member of the Communist Party in Shanghai at
this time. His activities in establishing links with the Guomindang are referred to above, in
the Introduction, but no further biographical information is available.