Conversations with Zhang Lan[1]

(August 28 – September 11, 1945)

Mao Zedong (hereafter Mao): You must be Elder Zhang Biao? Greetings!

Zhang Lan (hereafter Zhang): I dare not presume! I dare not! Greetings, Mr. Runzhi! Welcome to Chongqing!

Mao: In this sweltering heat, you still came to the airport in person—I am truly undeserving, truly undeserving!

Zhang: It is only right. You have been toiling for the nation’s affairs—that is the real hardship!

Mao: Not at all, not at all!

Mao: We shall have a long talk another day.

II

Mao: Home of Democracy, Home of Democracy—this is indeed a home of democracy! General Feng, a military man by origin, yet capable of such fine calligraphy—no simple feat! Both martial and literary, both refined and popular, truly living up to the model of a scholar-general. This gentleman is now our friend.

Zhang: Indeed, General Feng is also a bosom friend of the Democratic League.

Xian Ying (hereafter Xian): Mr. Mao, because Elder Biao resides here, and the headquarters of the Democratic League is also here, people from all circles often gather here to discuss state affairs, hold meetings, and give banquets. It was Mr. Dong Biwu who bestowed this honorific name. General Feng Yuxiang once visited as a guest, and upon hearing this name, he gladly took up his brush and wrote this plaque. Mr. Guo Moruo even composed a poem for it.

Mao: So it was Elder Dong who named it, and there is also a poem by Mr. Guo Moruo—together with General Feng’s calligraphy, it can well be called the Three Perfections.

Mao: Who rivals this elder of northern Sichuan in elegance, skilled in calligraphy, skilled in commanding troops, skilled in collecting books and records, gazing far from the Daguan Tower, winning a landscape picturesque as a painting. Heedless of the fascist oppression, there are vocational educators, there are cultural associations, there are political parties and groups, grasping the affairs of the world, long gathered in this Home of Democracy. Whose composition is this?

Xian: Composed by Elder Biao.

Mao: The meaning is excellent, the words are excellent.

Zhang: This is but a humble abode.

Mao: It is my virtue that makes it fragrant—what humility is there!

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, that you would actually come to Chongqing this time was something we never expected! Now that you are here, we cannot help but worry for your personal safety!

Mao: Many thanks for your concern! Many thanks to all of you for your concern! This time, coming alone to the meeting, we made thorough studies and assessments before coming. Judging by the current situation, it can be said there is alarm but no danger, or danger but no peril. Am I not perfectly fine now? Not a hair harmed. The moment I stepped off the plane, they did not detain me! I am like Zhuge Liang going to Eastern Wu—though in the tiger’s mouth, I am as secure as Mount Tai!

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, for the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, you could have done as in the past—send Mr. Enlai, along with Mr. Ruofei, to conduct the talks. Why trouble yourself to come in person?

Mao: Elder Biao, this time they sent three telegrams in succession inviting me, putting on quite a show of sincerity. If I had not come, they would surely have spread rumors wildly, saying we do not want peace, do not want unity. This tune was already being sung. It would have been terrible—piles of accusations would have been poured down on our heads. Now that I have come, they are silenced; the rumors collapse of themselves, all vanish like smoke and mist, and can never be fabricated again.

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, a few years ago I told Chiang Kai-shek to his face: “Only by practicing democracy can China have hope.” He actually threatened me, saying: “Only the Communist Party talks about practicing democracy.” Now that the domestic and international situation has changed, he too is shouting about democracy and inviting you to negotiate. I see him as putting on a false show of democracy.

Mao: Humph, democracy has become Chiang Kai-shek’s fashionable commodity! If he wants to stage a false show of democracy, we shall turn his false show into a real performance, letting the people of the whole nation be the audience, discerning the true from the false, distinguishing right from wrong. Would not this drama then be of great value?

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, how do you see the prospects of these negotiations?

Mao: On the one hand, the Kuomintang wants to negotiate with us; on the other hand, they are attacking us. Not counting the troops encircling the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the forces directly attacking the Liberated Areas already number eight hundred thousand.

Zhang: Oh?

Mao: So it is clear that Chiang’s mind was made up long ago. He wants to eliminate us, and the faster and more thoroughly, the better. Unless this is done, he will not be comfortable.

Zhang: This fully shows that this man has no sincerity whatsoever in negotiations. He is deceiving people!

Mao: Indeed! He is always deceiving people. He has no sincerity; he is unreliable. From years of experience, we know this all too well. Not to mention anything else, this time they invited us thrice and urged us four times, with astonishing sincerity. Yet when I arrived, they were utterly unprepared. It seems that from now on, all proposals will still have to be put forward by us. Is this not a joke?

Zhang: This is sufficient proof of their falseness. I think they never imagined you would actually come. Therefore, I believe it will be very difficult for the negotiations to yield any real results. The danger of civil war is grave!

Mao: Elder Biao, what you say is reasonable and well-founded. But this is only one aspect of the matter; there is another aspect. Elder Biao, Chiang has three major concerns about fighting a civil war: First, in our Liberated Areas, we now have a hundred million people, an army of one million, and a militia of two million. This strength he dare not underestimate. Second, the people in the Great Rear Area oppose civil war. Today, the Democratic League already has great influence among the broad masses. In China’s democratic revolution, the Democratic League plays a major role in striving for democracy, unity, unification, and national construction, and in opposing civil war. Now, under your leadership, the Democratic League is struggling together with us. How dare Chiang take this lightly? Third, people of insight internationally are also dissatisfied with China’s reactionary forces and sympathize with the strength of the Chinese people. They oppose civil war in China and advocate peace and democracy. With these three factors, it is by no means easy for Chiang to realize his delusions. This compels him to show some realism. He invited me, so I came to negotiate. As for the outcome of the negotiations, we shall see when the time comes. But we must still strive hard to bring about a good result. He plays a two-handed policy; we have long been prepared. If they want to talk, we talk, seeking peace thereby; if they want to fight, we fight, wiping them out completely. If he wants to act this way, what can you do? Of course, we will not strike the first blow; we will counterattack only after being attacked. What else can be done?

Zhang: Now that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are negotiating, and Chiang has never kept faith—he will renege even on what he has agreed to—to prevent him from reneging, I say there should be a third party participating.

Mao: I am afraid they will not agree to that.

Mao: I suggest this: henceforth, I will have Enlai and the others report to you and the other gentlemen at any time on the progress of the negotiations. How about that?

Zhang: That would be fine.

(Mao Zedong summarized the “Declaration of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Current Situation” of August 25, introduced it to Zhang Lan, and gave a detailed explanation of it.)

Zhang: Very fair, very fair! During the eight years of the War of Resistance, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army liberated vast territories and populations behind enemy lines. It would be unfair not to grant several surrender zones. If Chiang Kai-shek still has any conscience left, he should adopt and implement all these six points. You just spoke of staging a real performance out of a false show—it seems this drama will indeed be very interesting!

(Mao Zedong also gave Zhang Lan a detailed introduction to the building of political power, the social landscape, production, education, and the people’s welfare in the Liberated Areas.)

Zhang: Last month, when Councilors Huang Yanpei, Leng Yu, Zuo Shunsheng, Zhang Bojun, and several others returned from Yan’an, they told me a little. Truly, “Returning to tell others, one might doubt it was the Peach Blossom Spring”!

Guard: Chairman, it is almost time for this evening’s banquet.

Mao: We lost track of time in our conversation. This evening Mr. Zhang Zhizhong is hosting a banquet. Let us conclude our talk here for today. I must take my leave.

Zhang: He has invited me as well.

Mao: That is excellent. We shall meet again this evening.

III

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, looking ahead at the negotiations, what will be the final outcome?

Mao: Elder Biao, the negotiations have so far yielded some results; partial agreements have been reached. First, they have agreed to avoid civil war and for the two parties to peacefully build a new China. Second, they have recognized the legal status of all parties and factions and certain democratic freedoms and rights of the people. In addition, Chiang has agreed to end political tutelage and convene a political conference.

Zhang: Convening a political conference, that is, a conference of parties and factions—this is what we have been calling for since the beginning of the year and struggling for to this day. Forced by the circumstances, Chiang has finally agreed to convene this conference, which they once regarded as a conference for dividing spoils. It has not been easy! What about a coalition government?

Mao: We have proposed that it be discussed and decided at the political conference. Of course, other issues, such as the program for peaceful national reconstruction, the National Assembly, the constitution, and so on, will all be discussed and decided at the conference. You have already heard something of the above. At present, the broad outlines have basically taken shape.

Zhang: These seem to be settled then?

Mao: Verbally they are settled, and they are recorded in the minutes. The question is how they will be realized in the future. To turn things on paper into reality still requires a great deal of effort.

Mao: This time, in order to secure the peace and democracy the people need, we have made some concessions. We have yielded eight Liberated Areas in the south.

Zhang: Why is that?

Mao: They want to return to Nanjing. Our Liberated Areas were beside his bed, or in his corridor. How can one allow another to sleep soundly beside one’s own couch? The Song Emperor Taizu was sleeping uneasily. He insisted on contending for them and even spread rumors that the Communist Party simply wants territory. Considering that this would not harm the fundamental interests of the people, we made this concession. During the War of Resistance, we voluntarily abolished the name of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Government, changed the name of the Red Army to the National Revolutionary Army, and replaced the confiscation of landlords’ land with the reduction of rent and interest. The concessions we made then were even greater than now. Our concessions now are conducive to smashing their civil war schemes, bankrupting their rumor factory, and winning the sympathy of the broad intermediate elements at home and abroad.

Zhang: You see the larger picture. Quite right, quite right.

Mao: The two major issues of the army and the political power in the Liberated Areas are the crux of the current deadlock.

Zhang: Has no satisfactory solution been worked out even now?

Mao: Indeed not.

Mao: Elder Biao, on the question of the army, we proposed that our army could be reduced to forty-three divisions. The Kuomintang has two hundred and sixty-three divisions; we would account for one-sixth. Later they said their army would be reduced to one hundred and twenty divisions. We said very well, reducing proportionally, we could reduce to twenty-four divisions, or even twenty divisions. At that, they had nothing to say. I believe Chiang’s original intention was to use “unified military command” as a pretext to eliminate our army. This is the fundamental reason why the issue has not been, and is unlikely to be, truly resolved today.

Mao: On the question of the Liberated Areas, we successively put forward four solutions, but they rejected them one by one. The sole reason was that none of our proposals conformed to their taste for “unified administrative orders” and were considered to run counter to “unified administrative orders.” It seems that Chiang’s “unified administrative orders” absolutely require the elimination of the Liberated Areas.

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, the Kuomintang has utterly lost the people’s hearts. The people of the whole nation place their hopes on you. What you must uphold, you must firmly uphold, so as to preserve some pure land for China!

Mao: Elder Biao, at the beginning of the War of Resistance, Chiang fought somewhat decently. Once he went up Mount Emei, he basically hid on the mountain and watched the fighting. For him, victory was something to be waited for. His policy was also set long ago: preserve strength, prepare for civil war. Our policy is to resolutely oppose civil war, to do our utmost, to be tactful and forbearing in order to prevent civil war. However, we are also soberly aware that the danger of civil war is extremely serious. If Chiang disregards everything and resolutely defies the world’s condemnation, taking up the knife, then the people, being forced, can only take up the knife as well. We, this “militarized cultural group”[1] without legal status, can only repay him in kind with “defiance of all laws, human and divine.” Elder Biao, we have made our assessments on this and are mentally prepared.

Zhang: If the situation truly develops to an irreversible point and we are forced to fight, may I ask, what are the prospects? How much confidence is there?

Mao: The broad masses of the people stand with us. This is the guarantee that our cause will inevitably triumph. We have a strong Party, an army that wages people’s war, and a powerful united front. These are the three magic weapons by which we shall win victory. Of course, there are difficulties, but the future is bright.

Zhang: Mr. Runzhi, when civil war becomes unavoidable, what should Sichuan do?

Mao: Elder Biao, I have come today mainly for this matter. Sichuan supported the eight-year War of Resistance. Chiang has a certain influence here. After he returns the capital to Nanjing, how could he be willing to let go of this place? He will have other plans. Elder Biao, if civil war is unavoidable, on behalf of the Central Committee of our Party, I solemnly entrust you with two major tasks: The first major task is that you use your prestige to influence the local strength factions to cooperate fully with our Party. The second major task is that you assist our underground Party in developing armed forces and organizing guerrilla units. At present, after consultation with Enlai, we have decided to send Jia Ziqun and others to organize the North Sichuan Democratic Allied Army in Nanchong, to open an underground passage connecting the Huaying Mountains, the Daba Mountains, the Funiu Mountains, and Mount Wutai, thereby linking Sichuan with the Liberated Areas in North China. Elder Biao, we must request your vigorous assistance in this.

Zhang: I will do my utmost and shall not fail your commission!

Mao: Elder Biao, if the Kuomintang-Communist negotiations succeed and a coalition government is established, depending on the circumstances, the Sichuan-Xikang question may be resolved by the localities themselves. If the negotiations fail and civil war breaks out, and if the Sichuan-Xikang forces are sufficient, they should rise in revolt early; if insufficient, they can await our army’s entry into Sichuan and coordinate operations.

Mao: Elder Biao, Enlai and I both have a thought, and also a request. We hope that in the future, on major political issues, the Democratic League and the CCP can exchange views in advance, discuss together, and after unifying understanding, take concerted action. May I ask your esteemed opinion?

Zhang: Excellent. I had this thought earlier as well, for only thus can we have the strength to constrain Chiang and achieve our objectives. Our two sides must establish this kind of close cooperative relationship.

Mao: Elder Biao, what we just discussed were matters of preparing for war. Of course, it must be said in return that fighting is a move to be taken only as a last resort when driven to an utterly helpless position. We must always use every means and do our utmost to strive for the realization of peace!

Zhang: Yes, yes. This is even more what I have always advocated! Mr. Runzhi, our Democratic League will soon convene an extraordinary national congress. The Democratic League is determined to struggle together with the CCP to the end for democracy, unity, peace, and national construction!

Zhang: Now that you and the Kuomintang have been negotiating behind closed doors and have reached agreements, you should make them public, so that everyone knows, lest Chiang Kai-shek refuse to honor them later.

Zhang: If it is inconvenient for you, let me write an open letter to both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, laying these issues before the eyes of the nation, so that they may be supervised and advanced by the people of the whole country.

Mao: Good, good. Elder Biao is truly mature and prudent in planning for the nation!

Mao: Today’s free conversation has been most enjoyable!

IV

Mao: Thank you for seeing me off—I am undeserving!

Zhang: It is only right, only right! You have returned safely after all!

Mao: Many thanks for your concern!

Zhang: Someday,[1] when China has achieved democracy, I will still go to Yan’an to visit you!

Mao: Welcome, welcome. You are welcome to come to Yan’an. There are many Sichuan natives in Yan’an; they can cook Sichuan cuisine to entertain you!

Mao (to Xian Ying): Farewell! Our Lord Mengchang.

--- Notes

[1] Zhang Lan (1872–1955), courtesy name Biaofang, was a native of Nanchong, Sichuan (present-day Lianchi Township, Xichong County). After the May Fourth Movement in 1919, he supported young students going to France on work-study programs. In 1941, he participated in founding the China Democratic Political League (renamed the China Democratic League in 1944). In October 1941, he succeeded Huang Yanpei as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the China Democratic Political League, serving as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the CDL and Chairman of the First Central Committee of the CDL until his death on February 9, 1955, at the age of 83. These are several conversations Mao Zedong had with Zhang Lan during the Chongqing negotiations. Part One is Mao’s conversation with Zhang Lan, who had come to welcome him, upon Mao’s arrival at Jiulongpo Airport. Part Two is the conversation when Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai visited Zhang Lan at the Special Garden. Part Three is the conversation during Mao Zedong’s meeting with Zhang Lan and Xian Ying on September 15. Part Four is Mao’s conversation with Zhang Lan and others at the airport upon his return to Yan’an.


[1] Xian Ying (1885–1968), courtesy name Tesheng, was a native of Xichong, Sichuan. One of the founders of the China Democratic League and a renowned democratic figure. Originally a military man, in 1925 he was appointed Garrison Commander of Jiangba, stationed in Chongqing. In the spring of 1933, together with Zhang Lan, he represented Liu Xiang in traveling to Guangxi to contact Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and Huang Xuchu to oppose Chiang Kai-shek and resist Japan, laying the groundwork for the later Red Army-Guangxi-Sichuan Agreement. In 1937, in Chengdu, together with Zhang Lan and Zhong Tigan, he represented Liu Xiang in signing a secret agreement with the CCP representative Li Yimang for joint resistance against Japan and opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. After 1939, he began to refuse official careers. Xian’s residence, named the “Special Garden,” served as a place where the CCP and democratic figures gathered to discuss state affairs. Dong Biwu and Feng Yuxiang each bestowed the honorific title “Home of Democracy” upon the Special Garden. Mao Zedong called him the “Modern Lord Mengchang.” In 1968, Xian Ying and his wife passed away successively in Beijing.


[1] Sichuan dialect, meaning “in the future.”