Central Committee Directive Concerning
the Xi'an Incident and Our Tasks
(December 19, 1936)
I. The Situation Before the Occurrence of the Xi'an Incident
1. With the beginning of a partial war of resistance in eastern Suiyuan, the
anti-Japanese movement throughout the whole country and in the large cities of
the Northwest (such as Xi'an, Taiyuan, and Suiyuan) rapidly leapt forward with
a fierce momentum that not only forced the broad petty bourgeois masses and the
majority of the middle bourgeoisie to join but also created decisive divisions
within the big bourgeoisie.


2. Directly faced with this rapidly developing anti-Japanese movement, the
Nanjing government was also forced to change its former policy of yielding to
Japan, albeit hesitantly and indecisively. In the process of these changes, it still
tried hard to compromise with Japan, did not express a positive attitude toward
the partial war of resistance in Suiyuan, adopted a policy of suppressing the
anti-Japanese movement, and was unwilling to cease its attacks on the Red
Army.


3. Under the influence and prompting of the people of the whole nation and
of the Northwest, and of the Communist Party and the Soviet Red Army, the
anti-Japanese feelings of the Northeastern Army and of the commanders and
soldiers of the Seventeenth Route Army have risen very high, and it is for this
reason that they have demanded a rapid halt to the attacks on the Red Army, the
cessation of all civil warfare, and a united anti-Japanese resistance. But this
demand of theirs has been adamantly rejected by Chiang Kaishek.


II. The Meaning of the Xi'an Incident
1. This action was the result of dissatisfaction with the Nanjing government's
policy toward Japan on the part of representatives of a portion of the Chinese
national bourgeoisie and of a portion of the dominant faction of the


2. But, because that this action was carried out in many respects in the style
of a more or less military secret plot, and detained Nanjing's highest responsible
person and principal commander, Chiang Kaishek, it put Nanjing in the position
of being an enemy of Xi'an and thus created the possibility of a new large-scale
civil war that would be extremely dangerous for the Chinese nation. Hence, this
action has also impeded the union of the nationwide anti-Japanese forces.


III. Two Possible Future Developments Out of the Xi'an
Incident, and Their Proponents
1. One possibility is that this incident will cause a civil war to erupt and
cause some or most of the Nanjing moderates (the national reformist faction) to
become subjectively and objectively pro-Japanese, weakening the nationwide
anti-Japanese forces and delaying the launching of a nationwide war of resistance, to the point that it will create conditions favorable to invasion by the
Japanese bandits. This possibility would be welcomed by the international alliance of aggressors, Japan, Germany, and Italy, and especially by Japan and the
Chinese pro-Japanese faction.


2. The other possibility is that this incident will, on the contrary, bring an end
to the "Communist suppression" civil war, cause the early realization of a
ceasefire in the civil war and a united resistance against Japan, and make the
nationwide anti-Japanese national salvation united front become a reality more
quickly. This possibility is the one that the international peace alliance, all the
nation's people, and all those parties, factions, walks of life, and armies that want
to resist Japan and save the nation earnestly uphold and wish to make a reality.


IV. Basic Principles for Realizing the Second Possible
Future Outcome
1. The position of those organizers and leaders who firmly uphold stopping
all civil war and uniting against Japan is to oppose a new civil war and support a
peaceful resolution between Nanjing and Xi'an that is based upon joining together to resist Japan.


2. Use every method to unite with the Nanjing left wing, win over the moderates, and oppose the pro-Japanese faction, in order to prod Nanjing to move closer
to an anti-Japanese position, and to expose the use of the call to support Chiang by
the Japanese and the pro-Japan faction, and their plot to launch civil war.


3. Show sympathy for the Xi'an action, and give active support to Zhang and
Guomindang, who demanded an immediate cessation to the "Communist suppression" campaign, a halt to all civil fighting, and a united anti-Japanese resis Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 5, pp. 37-40, where it is
the Politburo at which Mao gave the opening address, and the content of this text parallels
625-26.
tance, and who had also accepted the anti-Japanese proposals of the Communist
Party. Consequently, this action came into being for the purpose of resisting Japan
and saving the nation, and was begun with the intention that the anti-Japanese
united front in the Northwest would promote the creation of a nationwide anti-Japanese united front.

reproduced from a collection published in China in 1981.

--- Notes
to some extent Mao's remarks on that occasion, as summarized in Nianpu, Vol. 1, pp.