Letter to Liu Shaoqi et al.1
(November 8, 1948)
To Comrades Liu [Shaoqi], Zhu [De], Zhou [Enlai], Ren [Bishi], and Peng [Zhen]:
Beiping, Tianjin, Tangshan, and Zhangjiakou will be liberated shortly, so we
must prepare cadres to take over control and make provisions for Party and government institutions. Preparations related to these matters must be completed within
one month or at most one-and-a-half months. The North China Bureau should
take responsibility for preparations for the three cities of Beiping, Tianjin, and
Zhangjiakou, of course, but should we have the Northeast Bureau provide assistance? Should we have the North China Bureau take responsibility for Tangshan,
or should the Northeast Bureau be responsible? After liberation, the two regions
of eastern Hebei and northern Chahar should be placed under the jurisdiction of
the North China Bureau. If we decide on this point, we should redraw jurisdictional control of these two regions before the liberation of Beiping and Tianjin,
and there should be overall planning for various issues related to cadres and food
supply. Please hold a conference to draw up measures to handle these matters.
Mao Zedong
P.S. You should investigate the political, economic, and cultural situations beforehand, and then formulate a plan for dealing with these issues.
Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, p. 309, where it is reproduced
from the handwritten manuscript.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-179