Telegram of Appreciation and Solicitude to
Ma Xulun and Others
(June 25, 1946)
To Comrade Zhou Enlai in Nanjing, with the request that he transmit it to the
gentlemen who are petitioning delegates representing various Shanghai people’s
organizations, Messrs. Ma Xulun, Kui Yanfang, Zhang Jiongbo, Bao Dasan,
Sheng Pihua, Wu Yaozong, Yan Baohang, Lei Jieqiong, Chen Zhenzhong, and
Chen Lifu1 for their perusal:
As representatives of the people of Shanghai, you gentlemen are busy with
the cause of peace, yet you had the misfortune of being besieged and beaten by
fascist thugs.2 Thus it is plain to see that the bellicose elements do not hesitate to
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 136–37, where it has been
reproduced from Jiefang ribao, July 6, 1946.
1.  Ma Xulun (1885–1970, born in Hang county [today’s Yuhang], Zhejiang) was a
teacher and a revolutionary activist during the 1910s and 1920s. After serving briefly
in the Nanjing government, he returned to teaching, and as Japanese aggression against
China intensified, he became increasingly outspoken against the government’s lack of
resistance. At this time, he was general director of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, which he helped found in late 1945, and head of the Shanghai People’s
Association to Petition for Peace, a conglomeration of more than fifty organizations that
sent a group of delegates to Nanjing on June 23 to demand an end to the civil war. Kui
Yanfang (1883–1957, native of Zhejiang) was general manager of a commercial firm and
chairman of the board of a bank. Zhang Jiongbo (1895–1969, native of Zhejiang) was an
industrialist. Bao Dasan (1884–1957, native of Zhejiang) and Sheng Pihua (1883–1961,
native of Zhejiang) were managers of several commercial firms. Wu Yaozong (1893–
1979, native of Guangdong) was an officer in the Chinese YMCA and was involved in
the publishing business. Yan Baohang (1895–1968, native of Liaoning) was involved
in various economic-affairs organizations in the Northeast. Lei Jieqiong (1905–2011,
native of Guangdong) was a professor at Soochow University and a director of the China
Association for Promoting Democracy. Chen Zhenzhong (1926–?, native of Zhejiang)
was a student at St. John’s University and chairman of a student association in Shanghai.
Chen Lifu (1924–1994, native of Jiangsu) was a student at Soochow University and head
of a student organization there.
2.  When the delegates from Shanghai arrived at the Nanjing train station on the evening of June 23, they were attacked by Guomindang agents. As a result, Ma Xulun and three
other delegates, along with several newspaper reporters, sustained injuries.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-186

alienate themselves from the people. The Chinese Communist Party has always
maintained the principles of peace and democracy, vowing to fight hard together
with the people of the whole nation to prevent civil war and attain peace. This
telegram brings our sympathy and solicitude, and we trust you will take very good
care of yourselves.
Mao Zedong
Zhu De