To Xiao San¹
(June 17, 1939)

Comrade Zizhang,

1. I have read your work,² and it gave me the feeling of a battle being waged.
Such fighting works are needed now, for life at present is all about combat. I hope
you will write more.
2. If no obstacles arise, I should be able to attend the Gorky Evening Party; it's
just that I have been rather busy lately.
3. I shall have to look into the question of a horse. This is actually not an easy
matter. If you travel within the border region, I could let you use my horse once; if
you go outside, we shall have to find another solution.

With respect and admiration,

Mao Zedong

Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 155-56, where it is reproduced
from the manuscript.
1. Xiao San (1896–1983), original name Xiao Zizhang, also known by his pen name of
Emi Xiao (which reflected his admiration for Rousseau's Emile), was a native of Xiangxiang,
Hunan. He was closely associated with Mao in the New People's Study Society and in other
activities during the May Fourth period. (See the numerous references to him in Volume I of
our edition.) Xiao studied in France in 1920 under the work-study program and joined the
Chinese Communist Party in 1922. He attended the Moscow University of the Toilers of the
Far East in 1923-1924, was active in the Chinese Communist Party during the First United
Front, and returned to the Soviet Union in 1927. In 1939, he had just come back to China
and gone to Yan'an, where he became head of the editorial department of the Lu Xun
Academy of Arts.
2. Refers to the manuscript of a collection of Xiao's poetry, some of which later appeared in his collections Heping zhi lu (The Road to Peace) and Xiao San shixuan (Selected
Poems of Xiao San).