To Zhou Yang¹
(January 22, 1939, 10:00 P.M.)

Comrade Zhou Yang:

I have not read the whole of the manuscript,² half of which was written by Li Liuru
and the other half by He Peiyuan.³ **It is of great importance in our propaganda
directed to those outside the border region,**⁴ so it should not be sent to press
lightly before everything, from the form to the content, has been made right. I now
request you to take full responsibility for the revision of the book; if you think it
should be entirely rewritten, go ahead and do so. Although this will demand extra
effort on your part, its significance is very great. It would be best if you could
finish the work before February 15, so the book could be published at the end of
the month.

It has been arranged that the author's remuneration (1.5 yuan per thousand
characters) will be divided up among you, Comrade Li, and Comrade He, to show
my appreciation for your efforts.

Salutations!

Mao Zedong

Our source for this letter is *Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji,* which reproduces it from the
manuscript.
1. Zhou Yang (1908–1989) was a native of Hunan Province. After a period of study in
Japan, he spent the years 1930-1937 in Shanghai, where he served as secretary-general of
the League of Left-Wing Writers. When the war with Japan broke out in 1937, he went to
Yan'an, where he became head of the Education Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia
Border Region Government.
2. The reference is to the first draft of *A True Record of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia
Border Region.* The book was published by Jiefang chubanshe in Yan'an in December
1939.
3. Li Liuru (1887-1973), a native of Hunan, had received military training and participated in the Wuhan Uprising of 1911. After a period of study in Japan, he returned to Hunan
in 1919, and joined the Chinese Communist Party there in 1921. He participated in the
Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927 and in 1930 went to the Central Soviet Area, where he
occupied a number of posts. In August 1937 he went to Yan'an. At this time, he was chief
secretary in Mao Zedong's office. He Peiyuan was a secretary of that office.
4. Mao himself emphasized the words set in boldface by the use of dots under the
characters.