Letter to Xiao San1
(February 22, 1945)
Comrade Xiao San:
Your article “First Step” is very well written. Your attitude is quite different from
that during the first few years after you arrived in Yan’an. The article is honest,
earnest, vivid, and forceful. Certainly, your articles in the past were also very
good, but they are better now. I have benefited greatly from reading them.
In order for comrades in cultural and artistic work to take part in mass rallies
more frequently, you have to notify comrades Gao Gang, Jia Tuofu, Tan Zheng,
Luo Mai, Li Fuchun, and Peng Zhen,2 reminding them not to forget to organize
comrades in the literature and arts to participate whenever there are such
meetings. Please discuss this matter with them. I will also tell them when I have
an opportunity. This year, there are fewer mass meetings for the entire border
region. Nonetheless, there are certainly many local meetings, including meetings
for Yan’an, Yan’an xian, and the districts under Yan’an. It is also necessary to tell
the responsible comrades and the propaganda departments in the xian, city, and
districts about this. Could you please tell them?
Comradely salutations!
Mao Zedong
Notes
Our source of this document is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 258–59, where it is reproduced from the
manuscript.

1. Xiao San [Emi Siao] (1896–1983) was a poet of conservative tastes at the Lu Xun Academy and a Party
member, serving at this time as a member of the Standing Committee of the Cultural Association of the
Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.
2. Jia Tuofu (1912–1967) was a long-time Shaanxi revolutionary and veteran of the Long March. He was at
this time secretary-general of the Secretariat of the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee. (The other
men have been glossed in previous notes.)