Must Strive to Occupy the Communication Lines and the Cities Along Them[1]

(August 12, 1945)

To all Central Bureaus, Central Sub-Bureaus, and Regional Party Committees:

Based on a comparison of the actual strength of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the communication lines and the large and small cities along them that our Party must strive to occupy are hereby determined as follows: (1) the section of the Tongpu Railway north of (and including) Taiyuan; (2) the section of the Pingsui Railway[2] east of (and including) Guisui[3]; (3) the Beining Railway[4]; (4) the Zhengtai Railway[5]; (5) the Daoqing Railway[6]; (6) the Baijin Railway[7]; (7) the Deshi Railway; (8) the section of the Pinghan Railway[8] north of Zhengzhou; (9) the section of the Longhai Railway east of Zhengzhou; (10) the Jinpu Railway[9]; (11) the Jiaoji Railway (if the U.S. forces land at Qingdao, they will occupy its eastern section). The above must be striven for and occupied. No plan for occupation shall be made at all for the western end of the Pingsui Railway (Baotou), the section of the Tongpu Railway south of Taiyuan, the section of the Longhai Railway west of Zhengzhou and the section of the Pinghan Railway south of it, or for the various key routes and large cities south of the Yangtze River; instead, emphasis shall be placed on occupying the vast

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and sent to all Central Bureaus, Central Sub-Bureaus, and Regional Party Committees.

[2] Pingsui Railway refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Suiyuan (present-day part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) at Baotou, i.e., the present-day Beijing-Baotou Line.

[3] Guisui, name of an old city, i.e., present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

[4] Beining Railway refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) via Tianjin to Shenyang, i.e., a section of the present-day Beijing-Harbin Line.

[5] Zhengtai Railway refers to the railway from Zhengding to Taiyuan, i.e., the present-day Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Line.

[6] Daoqing Railway refers to the railway from Daokou Town in Hua County to Qinghua Town in Bo'ai, Henan Province.

[7] Baijin Railway refers to an unfinished railway at that time from Baigui in Qi County, Shanxi, to Jincheng.

[8] Pinghan Railway refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Hankou, i.e., a section of the present-day Beijing-Guangzhou Line.

[9] Jinpu Railway refers to the railway from Tianjin to Pukou, i.e., a section of the present-day Beijing-Shanghai Line.

Must Strive to Occupy the Communication Lines and the Cities Along Them

countryside, and active preparations must be made to deal with Chiang Kai-shek’s attacks. Before the cities and key routes are taken, the countryside will still be our Party’s base areas.

Central Committee

August 12