Fundamental Reasons for the Peaceful
Resolution of the Beiping Problem1
 (February 1, 1949)
The attitude the reactionary Guomindang government in Nanjing has taken toward
a peaceful settlement in Beiping is noteworthy. On January 22, the Guomindang’s
Central News Agency published General Fu Zuoyi’s2 statement that a peaceful settlement in Beiping would “rapidly shorten the war; bring about the peace widely
discussed by the people; preserve the industrial and commercial basis, cultural relics, and historical sites; prevent the further decline of national vitality; and help to
bring about the fulfillment of complete nationwide peace as soon as possible.” On
January 27, the Central News Agency again published a statement by the Ministry
of Defense of the Nanjing government, reading as follows: “In North China, to
shorten the war, gain peace, and preserve the foundation of the old capital city of
Beiping and its cultural relics and historical sites, General Fu Zuoyi published a
statement on the 22nd, announcing an armistice from 10:00 A.M. on that day. In
accordance with the order from headquarters, the main forces of the Guomindang
in Beiping immediately began withdrawing from Beiping one after the other and
entering the specified areas. A small part of the Communist Party’s troops have
entered the city. Suiyuan3 and Datong will also carry out the armistice.” Defeated,
having lost all hope, the best way out is for the army to retreat from the city and
reorganize, and to let the People’s Liberation Army and the people’s government
peacefully take over the defense of the city as well as the municipal administration. This is the fundamental reason for the peaceful settlement of the Beiping
question. Why was Tianjin unwilling to do the same? Should not the “foundation
of industry and commerce, and the cultural relics and historical sites” in Tianjin be preserved? Did the “national vitality” in Tianjin deserve to be damaged? Why
should we “help to bring about the fulfillment of complete nationwide peace as
soon as possible” on January 22nd, when this was not appropriate on January
13th and a peaceful settlement in Tianjin consequently could not be carried out?
The basic reason is that General Fu Zuoyi still intended to fight. Tianjin has been
defeated. More than 100,000 men were disarmed within twenty-nine hours. The
bandit chiefs Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou, Du Jianshi,4 and others were all captured, Beiping was isolated, and there was no more hope at all, so they resolutely
took the second road, and a peaceful settlement of the Beiping question therefore
became possible. The People’s Liberation Army took Tianjin on the 15th. On the
16th, our three generals, Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen,5 established
a basic agreement for the peaceful settlement of the Beiping question with the representatives of General Fu Zuoyi, Generals Deng Baoshan and Zhou Beifeng, and
more detailed agreements were concluded within the next few days. General Zhou
Beifeng had already left Beiping, guided by Professor Zhang Dongsun,6 and held
talks with General Lin Biao and others on January 8. This was the second time he
had left Beiping. Is it not clear that the fundamental reason leading to the peaceful settlement of the Beiping question was the power of the People’s Liberation
Army and its victory? Another reason was that the Beiping people, including the
laboring classes, the bourgeoisie, and the gentry, all longed for a peaceful settlement. On January 19, eleven representatives of the Beiping people came from the
city and met publicly with the People’s Liberation Army. They were very satisfied
after they heard about the magnanimous policies for dealing with the problem put
forward by the People’s Liberation Army. The military headquarters of the Fortyfirst Army of the People’s Liberation Army played host to the representatives
and arranged for conversations and a banquet. One of the representatives was He
Siyuan [1896–1982, native of Shandong], a previous mayor of Beiping. He persistently opposed the People’s Liberation Army when he was the Guomindang’s
governor of Shandong Province, and he firmly suppressed the people when he
was mayor of Beiping. He was a capable official of the Guomindang’s northern
clique, but no matter how great his misdeeds in the past, he made the right choice
this time. Another representative was Lu Fu [1878–1955, native of Zhejiang], a
member of the Legislative Committee in the Guomindang’s court system. Yet another representative was Miss Kang Tongbi [1887–1969, daughter of Kang
Youwei), who works for the Department of Antiquity Preservation in Beiping.
The rest of the representatives were all from official organizations of the popular
masses. They represent the so-called “popular discussion” referred to in General
Fu Zuoyi’s statement of the 22nd, where he speaks of “bringing about the peace
widely discussed by the people.” In any case, they can be considered to represent
genuine public opinion. This is completely different from the so-called “peace
offensive” stirred up by the CC Clique7 of the Guomindang during the past halfmonth in various southern provinces and involving the local official parliaments,
chambers of commerce, labor unions, and so forth. People must never mix up
these two categories. Recently, in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Wuhan, preliminary
discussions have begun regarding local peace movements. These are also run by
the bourgeoisie and gentry, probably in the same category as He Siyuan, Lu Fu,
and Kang Tongbi. Consequently, warlord Pan Gongzhan [1895–1975, native of
Zhejiang], a diehard of the Guomindang’s CC Clique, opposes them. Another
reason for the peaceful settlement in Beiping is that except for a few diehards, the
200,000 men of the Guomindang army, from privates to generals, do not want to
fight any more. After the fall of Tianjin, General Fu Zuoyi represented such sentiments and resolved to retreat from the city and reorganize the troops. No matter
how thoroughly reactionary Fu Zuoyi was in the past, and how bitterly the people
of North China hated him, in this matter he finally acted correctly. Provided only
that in the future he moves in a direction favorable to the cause of the people, is
willing to submit to the people, cooperates on the problem of army reorganization, does not play an obstructionist role, and does not plan to any longer hold
himself over the people and oppress them, the People’s Liberation Army will
have grounds to explain things to the people, pardon his war crimes, and give him
a new way out. And why would the Nanjing government also come to such an
agreement? This is a manifestation of a nationwide revolutionary high tide and of
the collapse of the Guomindang. They cannot but agree, just as they had to accept
the Communist Party’s eight conditions for peace as the basis for negotiations.8
Under pressure from the people of the whole country, they are isolated, and with
the 200,000 men in their army having already agreed, they cannot fail to agree.
This agreement is of tremendous significance. As a result, there are legal grounds
(legal according to Guomindang law) for solving the problems of the whole country by following the path of Beiping, and the Guomindang has not the slightest
reason to object if other places do the same. Although the Guomindang diehards
headed by Chiang Kaishek are still prepared to resist to the end, they will be
completely and thoroughly isolated and their reactionary policies will be rapidly
smashed by the revolutionary wave of the people.

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 491–94, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong wrote this commentary for Xinhua News Agency.

2.  Fu Zuoyi was formerly commander-in-chief of the Guomindang army’s North China
“Bandit Suppression” Headquarters. After Tianjin was liberated on January 15, 1949, and
under siege by the People’s Liberation Army, Fu accepted the peace conditions proposed by
the Communist forces. After signing an agreement with the Communists on January 21, Fu
withdrew with his troops from urban Beiping, which was then peacefully occupied by the
People’s Liberation Army on January 31.

3.  Suiyuan Province covered the central region of what is today Inner Mongolia until
it was abolished in 1954.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-235

4.  Chen Changjie (1892–1962, native of Fujian) was formerly deputy commander of
the Guomindang army’s Tianjin-Tanggu Defense Zone and commander of the Tianjin Garrison Command. Lin Weichou (1905–1998, native of Guangdong) was formerly deputy
commander of the Tianjin Garrison Command and commander of the Sixty-Second Army.
Du Jianshi (1906–1989, native of Hebei) was mayor of Tianjin under the Guomindang
government and commander of the Beiping-Liaoning Railway Patrol.

5.  Lin Biao and Luo Ronghua were commander and political commissar, respectively,
of the Northeast Field Army. Nie Rongzhen was commander of the North China Military
Region.

6.  Zhang Dongsun was a professor at Yenching University and a leader of the China
Democratic League in Beiping.

7.  The “CC Clique” refers to a secret faction within the Guomindang, led by Chen
Guofu and Chen Lifu.

8.  See “Statement on the Current Situation by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party,” January 14, 1949, in this volume.