To Restore Shipping Between North China and Shanghai

Telegram to Du Yong and Wei Wenhan[1]

(February 13, 1949)

Peng and Ye:

The following telegram should be sent via the telegraph bureau to Shanghai as important.

Central Committee

Chouyuan

Mr. Du Yong, Chairman of the National Shipowners Association, and Mr. Wei Wenhan, Chairman of the Shanghai Shipowners Association:

Your telegram of February 7 has been received. Restoring shipping between North China and Shanghai to facilitate the development of production is of utmost

[1] In early January of the 38th year of the Republic (1949), Beiping and Tianjin were successively liberated, and the coal supply in the Shanghai area was on the verge of being cut off. The National Shipowners Association (abbreviated as Chuanlian) appealed to both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, proposing to transport flour northward in exchange for coal to Shanghai. The CPC leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai replied, expressing their welcome.

importance. The northward voyages of the steamers Da Shanghai and Tangshan, and the dispatch of personnel to North China for discussions, are most welcome. We have already instructed Mayor Ye Jianying of Beiping and Mayor Huang Jing of Tianjin to prepare for their reception. The arrival of the British firm Butterfield & Swire's steamer Hunan at Tanggu was of a temporary nature and not prearranged. The claim that Chinese vessels from Central and South China sailing to North China ports will not be permitted to return to their original locations is purely newspaper fabrication. Rumors cease with the wise, and you, gentlemen, should not give them credence.

Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai

February 13

A manuscript of the telegram from Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to Du Yong and Wei Wenhan.