--- Notes

Article 261. The Seven-Power Group, Wang Jingwei’s regime—both have ultimately led to surrender. It has now been one year since the Xin Hua Bao was transformed into a “propaganda organ of the Communist Party.” Among the many local newspapers, it remains one of the very best in the country. The main reasons are twofold: first, it is published by the Communist Party; second, under a democratic political system, without these two conditions existing simultaneously, it would be impossible to achieve such high standards. The tireless efforts of all the newspaper staff are also an essential factor; without their initiative and creativity, success would be unattainable. However, “good” knows no bounds. This is only the first year, and I hope that this newspaper will continue to improve.

Resistance against Japan, unity, and progress—these were the three major principles put forward by the Communist Party at last July’s anniversary commemoration. They form an inseparable trinity; none can be omitted. If we emphasize resistance while neglecting unity and progress, then what passes for “resistance” will inevitably prove unsustainable and degenerate into capitulation. The Communist Party insists that all three elements must be combined. To carry out the war of resistance, we must oppose capitulation: we must reject Wang Jingwei’s treasonous agreements, his puppet regime, and every traitor and appeaser hiding within the anti-Japanese front. To foster unity, we must combat division, strengthen the movement for unity and progress, suppress internal friction, and resist attacks from behind the lines aimed at the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and all progressive forces. We must also defend the anti-Japanese base areas, safeguard the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region—the Eighth Route Army’s rear base—and uphold the Communist Party’s legal status. We must oppose the avalanche of “measures to restrict the activities of other parties.” To promote progress, we must fight retrogression: we must not consign the Three Principles of the People as a program for resisting Japan and building the nation to the archives; we must implement the Premier’s instructions to awaken the people; we must stop sending progressive youth to concentration camps; we must restore the limited freedom of speech and publication that existed at the outset of the war; we must prevent the constitutionalist movement from being reduced to a bureaucratic enterprise monopolized by a few; we must oppose the attack on the New Army in Shanxi (which resulted in the tragic massacre of patriotic and progressive cadres); we must condemn the Three Principles Youth League’s banditry along the Xian-Yulin Railway; we must denounce the shameless profiteering from national crisis—reaping tens of thousands of jin of ill-gotten wealth—while ordinary people suffer. We must also curb the rampant corruption of officials and the brazen arrogance of local tyrants and gentry. Without unity and progress, so-called resistance is merely empty rhetoric, and victory over Japan will remain out of reach.

What, then, is the political direction of the Xin Hua Bao in its first year? It is to stress unity and progress, to combat all the poisonous influences undermining the war effort, thereby ensuring further victories in the anti-Japanese struggle. On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Xin Hua Bao’s founding, I hereby express my earnest hopes for its continued success and urge all our fellow countrymen to join us in this endeavor.