Comrade He Gan-zhi: I was very pleased to read your letter.


Among our comrades, there are still not many who have both the interest and the determination to study Chinese history. In Yan’an, Comrade Chen Boda[2] is conducting research in this field, and you, too, are considering working on national history. This is most commendable, and I hope you will carry it out earnestly.


As for myself, although I have long desired to do so, I have yet to begin collecting materials for a history of China’s wars.
My intellectual tools are insufficient; this year I can only focus on building those tools—studying philosophy, economics, and Leninism, with philosophy as the main emphasis. In the future, I plan to turn to the study of modern history. I look forward to receiving your guidance.


I believe your three approaches to studying national history are correct, especially the second one. If you could demonstrate in your book which of the two paths—the path of national resistance or that of national capitulation—is right and which is wrong, and if you were to severely criticize the group of national capitulators from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Southern Song, the late Ming, and the late Qing periods, while at the same time praising those who championed national resistance, such work would be of great assistance to the current War of Resistance Against Japan.


There is only one point: we should take an unequivocally negative stance toward aggressive policies characterized by “taking advantage of the weak and attacking the ignorant” and “craving fame and glory”—policies that have indeed occurred in Chinese history—so as not to confuse them with a policy of active resistance.


Offensive actions undertaken for the purpose of resistance do not fall within the category of aggression, as exemplified by the achievements of Ban Chao[3] of the Eastern Han dynasty.


When your two new books[4] are published, I would be grateful if you could each send me a copy.


Sincerely wishing you every success! Mao Zedong, January 17th. Printed according to the Selected Letters of Mao Zedong, published by the People’s Publishing House in 1983.
Notes [1] He Gan-zhi (1905–1969), native of Taishan, Guangdong. At that time he served as a professor at the Shaanbei Public School and as director of its Research Section on Chinese Problems. [2] Chen Boda (1904–1989), native of Huian, Fujian. At that time he was working in the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee. [3] Ban Chao (32–102), from Anling in Fufeng (now part of Xianyang City), was a renowned general of the Eastern Han dynasty. He campaigned in the Western Regions for thirty-one years, forcing the Xiongnu to migrate westward and thereby eliminating their threat to the Han dynasty. [4] Refers to He Gan-zhi’s works The Socio-Economic Structure of China and A Study of the Three Principles of the People. The former was published in March 1939 by the Chinese Culture Press, and the latter in August 1940 by the New China Press.