To Liu Yazi
(January 28, 1946)
Esteemed Mr. Yazi:1
I received and read your valued letter some time ago. I greatly regret that my
reply was delayed by several months due to illness. I was very happy to learn from
the newspapers that you have moved to Shanghai and that you made an emotional
speech at Yu Zai’s2 funeral. I humbly accept the two seals and accompanying
poems from you and Madam Sun.3 “Feeling warmth in the heart generates gratitude; upon return, I tell all to my highland wife.”4 I would say the same thing. In
sum, I thank you and hope that you will work for the country. My minor illness
was nervous exhaustion, but I am happy to say that I am already much improved.
With best wishes.
Mao Zedong
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 267–68, where it is reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Liu Yazi (1887–1957, born in Suzhou) was a resolute democrat and poet. He joined
the Tongmenghui and was also a member of the Guomindang’s Central Supervisory Committee, but he was expelled from the Guomindang in 1941 for criticizing Chiang Kaishek
regarding the Wannan Incident. He joined the China Democratic League in Chongqing in
1944.
2.  Yu Zai (1921–1945) was a teacher at Kunming Nanjing Middle School. He died in
December 1945 during a student protest against the civil war.
3.  The reference is to Sun Sunquan (1903–1965, native of Anhui) the wife of Tan Pingshan (1886–1956, born in Gaomin, Guangdong).
4.  These lines are from a poem Liu Yazi addressed to Mao in the autumn of 1945.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-92