To Messrs. Zhang Naiqi, Tao Xingzhi, Shen Junru and Zou Taofen[1]

(September 18, 1936)

Dear Messrs. Naiqi, Xingzhi, Junru and Taofen,

Your statements and courageous actions for resisting Japan and saving the nation[2] have already aroused the sympathy of the masses of people throughout the country, and have likewise filled all of us in the Red Army and the people in the Soviet areas with boundless respect for you! However, to bring about a real cessation of the attacks on the Red Army by the Kuomintang troops and to put into effect an end to the civil war and joint resistance to Japan, you and we must make still greater efforts in every field and co-operate still more closely.

I am confident that the slogan of a democratic republic which we have recently put forward is one you will endorse,
because it is the best means of uniting all democratic forces to carry out a genuine resistance to Japan and to save the nation.

We are sending you a copy of our letter of August 25 to the Kuomintang and request you to examine it and let us have your esteemed views.

The continued attacks on the Red Army by the Kuomintang troops and the fact that all the savage decrees have not yet been rescinded still keep us far apart from you today and prevent us from constantly discussing and exchanging concrete views on resisting Japan and saving the nation together. This inevitably gives rise to some estrangement and misunderstanding on your part concerning the policy of the anti-Japanese united front we are pursuing today and our practical activities. I am therefore asking Comrade Pan Hannian[1] to exchange views with you constantly and to convey our warm hopes concerning you. With salutations for resisting Japan and saving the nation!

Mao Zedong

On the fifth anniversary of September 18

[1] Pan Hannian was then the representative of the Chinese Communist Party in the negotiations with the Kuomintang authorities in Nanjing.

--- Notes

[1] Zhang Naiqi (1897-1977), a native of Qingtian, Zhejiang Province, was formerly assistant manager of the Zhejiang Industrial Bank in Shanghai and chairman of the board of directors of the China Credit Information Service. Tao Xingzhi (1891-1946), a native of Shexian, Anhui Province, was a people’s educator. Shen Junru (1875-1963), a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, was a patriotic democratic personage and a lawyer. Zou Taofen (1895-1944), a native of Yujiang, Jiangxi Province, was a journalist and publisher who successively served as chief editor of the weekly Mass Life, the Life Daily and the Life Weekly. At the time, they were leaders of the Shanghai Cultural Association for National Salvation and the National Salvation Association of All Circles Throughout the Country.

[2] In May 1936, Shen Junru, Zhang Naiqi, Tao Xingzhi, Zou Taofen and others initiated the formation of the National Salvation Association of All Circles Throughout the Country and launched extensive activities for resisting Japan and saving the nation. On July 15 of the same year, the four of them jointly signed and published an open letter entitled “Some Basic Conditions and Minimum Demands for Uniting to Resist Foreign Aggression”, in which they endorsed the Chinese Communist Party’s proposal for an anti-Japanese national united front and demanded that the Kuomintang change its policy of “first pacification, then resistance” and unite with the Red Army to resist Japan together.