• General Lin Zun, Captains Shao Lun, Li Baoying, Wu Jian’an, Zhang Jiabao, Song Jihong, Yi Yuanfang, Guo Bingheng, Han Tingfeng, and Chen Wudu; Sergeant Major Du Shen; Sergeant Major Zhang « ] Ru; and all officers and men of the 11th Fleet: We congratulate you on your heroic feat on the Yangtze River at Nanjing.
Leading fifteen warships, you resolutely broke away from the reactionary camp and joined the great family of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army—a move that deserves the warmest welcome from the entire nation.
Following the uprising of the cruiser Chongqing in November, which was subsequently blown up by the Kuomintang reactionaries in March, your large-scale insurrection in April once again demonstrates that the mighty will of China’s patriotic people to build their own navy and coastal defenses cannot be thwarted by any remnants of reaction.
It is our hope that you will stand united, study the PLA’s principles of army building and its organizational systems, and continue to master naval technology, so as to strive for a bright future for the People’s Navy of China!
Mao Zedong Zhu De May 18, 1949 No. 274 People’s Daily, May 19, 1949 “A Telegram from Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu to the Uprising Naval Personnel” Guangdong North Daily, May 20, 1949 “A Telegram from Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu to the Uprising Navy and Paratroopers.”