Preface to Nie Rongzhen's An Anti-Japanese
Model Base-The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei
Border Region
(March 2, 1939)

The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei (Jin-Cha-Ji) Border Region is a fortress of the War of
Resistance in North China. There they have put nationalism into practice by firmly
maintaining resistance against Japan; there they have put into practice people's
rights through democracy and freedom; and there they have also begun to put into
practice the principle of the people's livelihood by improving the livelihood of the
people. In a word, there they are putting into practice the Three People's Principles, which are interconnected and inseparable one from the other. It will not do
merely to talk about the Three People's Principles, nor will it do to carry out only
one of the Three People's Principles. Empty talk has no effect on the actual situation. The enemy has already occupied more than half of China, and who with even
a modicum of conscience could still today be offering only empty talk? The military War of Resistance in itself counts as putting into practice the principle of
nationalism, but without resolutely putting into practice the principles of people's
rights and people's livelihood in coordination with the War of Resistance, it would
be impossible to defeat the Japanese bandits. In his last will and testament, Mr.
Sun Yatsen said that through his forty years of experience he was profoundly aware
that to reach the goal of freedom and equality, it was necessary to carry out two
great revolutionary principles, namely (1) to arouse the popular masses, and (2) to
join together in a common struggle with all those nations in the world that have
treated us as equals. How could we possibly fail to carry out Mr. Sun's final instructions now that our nation's peril is as grave as it is today? To arouse the masses
is to put into practice the principles of people's rights and people's livelihood;
there is no other way to do so. The principle of people's rights in particular is like
yearning for clouds in the face of drought and cannot be put off a moment longer.
The program of a War of Resistance and nation building passed at the
Guomindang's Provisional National Assembly has been promoted by Chairman

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 6, pp. 25-26, where it is reproduced
from Nie Rongzhen's book, as published in December 1939 by the publishing house of
Balujun junzheng zazhi.

Chiang and the National Government at the top and supported by the popular
masses all over the country from below, yet many people remain deeply silent
about this program. Not only do they keep silent on the matter, they actually interfere with it. With regard to the parts of the program having to do with putting into
practice the people's rights, such as guaranteeing the people's freedom of speech,
publication, assembly, and association, instead of being rewarded, those who carry
it out are rather penalized. This is indeed an extremely bizarre situation and absolutely must undergo a change. The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region's spirit
of resolutely carrying out the Three People's Principles is worthy of admiration
and merits reward. In the past Wang Jingwei and his ilk went about claiming all
the time that the Eighth Route Army and the guerrilla forces were "roving around
[you] but not hitting [ji],"¹ or "were neither moving nor hitting," and certain yesmen
rose up to echo them. But Wang Jingwei himself "moved" right into the bosom of
Japan, and the yesmen are engaging in "guerrilla warfare" within the world of
their four and eight rounds of mahjong. They don't even know enough to be
ashamed of themselves! In the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region there are no
Wang Jingwei followers, nor are there four and eight rounds of mahjong. There
instead they are resolutely carrying out the Three People's Principles and have
founded the fortress of the War of Resistance in North China through the arduous
struggle of guerrilla warfare. It is not without reason that Chairman Chiang has
emphatically praised the war in North China. This small book by Comrade Nie
Rongzhen paints a vivid picture describing the actual experience of this area over
a year and a half and how they put into practice the Three People's Principles and
persisted in waging guerrilla warfare. It not only suffices to defeat the nonsense
spread by the Chinese traitors and their yesmen, but also can serve as a model for
other places in showing how to put into practice the Three People's Principles and
how to arouse the popular masses to coordinate efforts closely in the resistance
against Japan. Anyone calling himself a nonbeliever should surely read this book.
On the eve of its publication, I am delighted to write the preface for it.

Mao Zedong

1. This is a play on the Chinese term for guerrilla warfare, youji zhan, frequently used in
Guomindang propaganda at this time to suggest that the Communist armies were not really
fighting the Japanese. Mao returned to this issue in his talk of July 9, 1939, translated
below. For the context, see above, the Introduction.