To Song Qingling
(September 18, 1936)
close relationship, such as Wu Yahui,2 Kong Xiangxi,³ Song Ziwen, Li Shizeng,4
Cai Yuanpei, and Sun Fo.5 I take this opportunity to
Wish you the best of health.
Mao Zedong
Mme. Qingling and her associates:
Suddenly almost ten years have passed since we parted from one another in
Wuhan.1 Each time we read in the papers or learn from comrades coming from
other places about the revolutionary and patriotic speeches and actions you,
madam, have made, we feel boundless respect and admiration for you. Since
1927, you, madam, and our comrades are the only ones who are really carrying
on the revolutionary and patriotic spirit initiated by Mr. Sun Yatsen. Although
the appeal to stop the civil war and unite in resistance against Japan prevails over
the whole country at present, yet Mr. Chiang, the man who commands the huge
army, and the Central Committee of the Guomindang still have no intention of
repenting thoroughly of what they have done. It is evident that such an attitude,
which goes against the revolutionary Three People's Principles and three major
policies put forward by Mr. Sun Yatsen, is truly unacceptable to the majority of
members of the Guomindang and should be rectified immediately. To this end, it
occurs to me that, in order to awaken all the principal leaders of the Guomindang
and to help them realize that our nation is in terrible danger of being subjugated,
and that the will of the people cannot be violated, so that they can change their
wrong policies without delay, we depend on someone like you, who, with her
position and influence as a member of the Central Committee of the
Guomindang, can really do something concrete and practical about it. I am now
sending Comrade Pan Hannian to discuss with you in person some specific
details regarding organization of the united front and ways to undertake some
public actions as well. I respectfully request that you meet with him and offer
some advice after his arrival. For your reference, I respectfully submit a copy of
the letter that we have sent to the Central Committee of the Guomindang. In
addition, we would be most grateful if you would introduce Comrade Hannian
for a chat to some key figures in the Guomindang with whom you have a fairly


Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 61-62, where it is reproduced
from a copy in the Central Archives.


1. Song Qingling (1893–1981) was the widow of Sun Yatsen. In 1927, after the break
between Chiang Kaishek and the Communists, she had been one of the most resolute
representatives of the "Left Guomindang" and, in this capacity, had signed jointly with
Mao a declaration of August 1, 1927, calling on all members of the Guomindang to carry
out Sun's policy of alliance with the Communist Party. (See Volume III, pp. 20-26.) At
this time, she was residing in Shanghai, where as the sister of Song Meiling (Mme.
Chiang Kaishek) and Song Ziwen, she had an influential network of acquaintances.


On the fifth anniversary of the "September Eighteenth Incident"


2. Wu Yahui (1865-1953), a native of Zhejiang, was at this time a member of the
Guomindang Central Control Commission.


3. Kong Xiangxi (1880-1967), better known in English as H.H. K'ung, was a native
of Shanxi. At this time he was vice president of the Guomindang Executive Yuan and
minister of finance.


4. Li Shizeng (1881-1973), a native of Hebei, was one of the founders of the
Sino-French Educational Society, under which many of Mao's friends from Hunan went
to study in France. In 1927, at the time of the split in the Guomindang, he had taken a
strongly anti-Communist stand. At this time, he was residing in Shanghai.


5. Sun Fo (1891-1973), also known as Sun Ke, a native of Guangdong, was the son
of Sun Yatsen. In 1927, he had supported the Left Guomindang government in Wuhan,
and in 1931 he participated in a short-lived opposition national government in
Guangzhou. Apart from these episodes, he served as a member of the government in
Nanjing, but often opposed Chiang Kaishek's policies. At this time, he was president of
the Legislative Yuan.