Circular Telegram of the Central Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party and
the Central Soviet Government Calling for
Peace and an End to the Civil War
(January 8, 1937)
The Guomindang and the National Government in Nanjing, gentlemen of the
Military Commission, Mr. Chiang Kaishek at Fenghua, senior Party, government, and military officials and officers of all provinces, all parties, factions,
organizations, and press offices of the whole country:


After the Xi'an Incident occurred, Japanese imperialism and the pro-Japanese
factions in China all thought that the opportunity of a lifetime had come and
started to provoke a civil war under the pretext of "supporting Chiang" in an
attempt to fulfill their scheme of destroying China. At that time, this Party and
this government, as well as the people of the whole country and compatriots in
Nanjing and every province who are against Japan, all advocated a peaceful
solution, in order to attain the goal of an end to the civil war and a concerted
effort to resist Japan. Fortunately the outbreak of a disastrous civil war was
averted because Mr. Chiang Kaishek accepted the anti-Japanese propositions put
forward by Mr. Zhang and Mr. Yang, and the latter two gentlemen attached more
importance to the state and the nation than to anything else. This Party and this
government felt deeply relieved when peace, unification, and unity in resistance
against Japan neared fulfillment, and the main forces of the Red Army were
already awaiting orders to fight the Japanese bandits, ready to march to the front
lines and join in the battle. The Japanese bandits and the pro-Japanese factions,
however, do not, after all, wish to see China truly reach peaceful unification,
which is why circumstances became perilous all of a sudden as soon as Mr.
Chiang returned to Nanjing. With assistance from the Japanese bandits, the
pro-Japanese factions, on the one hand, detained Mr. Zhang Hanqing and, on the
other, directed the Central armies, which were already retreating on Mr.
Chiang's orders, to resume their attacks on Xi'an in an attempt to provoke an
unprecedented civil war as a pledge of loyalty to the Japanese bandits. The
vicious scheme of the Japanese bandits and the pro-Japanese factions is as clear
as a raging fire to all our compatriots. At this critical juncture, this Party and this


This text first appeared in Hongse Zhonghua, No. 222 (January 16, 1937). We have
translated it from Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 5, pp. 53-54.