Speech During an Inspection Tour of Nanniwan[1]

(October 1943)

Difficulties are not unconquerable monsters. If everyone pitches in to conquer them, they will bow their heads. When everyone relies on self-reliance, food, clothing, and daily necessities will all be available. At present we have no foreign aid; even supposing we have it in the future, we must still give primacy to self-reliance. We cannot be like the Kuomintang, who even rely on foreigners for cotton cloth.

[1] Mao Zedong attached great importance to the production work of the 359th Brigade and personally visited Nanniwan for an inspection in October 1943. This is part of the speech he delivered during the inspection.

The officers and soldiers of the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army reclaimed wasteland at Nanniwan, turning the desolate Nanniwan into "a fine Jiangnan in northern Shaanxi."

On October 26, 1943, Mao Zedong inspected Nanniwan.