Inscription for the Mourning of Gu Bai[1]

(1937)

My friend Gu Bai, noble and full of drive, gave his life for the nation—a cause for profound grief and mourning. May the compatriots of the Gu family carry on his unfulfilled will and together attain the goal of freedom and liberation.

[1] Gu Bai (1906–1935), male, Han ethnicity, from Xunwu County, Jiangxi Province, member of the Communist Party of China. On March 6, 1935, at Yuanyangkeng, Shangping, Longchuan, Guangdong, he was surrounded by Kuomintang forces and died heroically at the age of 29 while covering his comrades’ breakout. This text is the mourning inscription Mao Zedong wrote for Gu Bai after the grievous news reached Yan’an.