To the Central China Bureau, with copies to all Bureaus and Field Armies: We have received your telegram of August 6, as well as the one forwarded from the Henan Provincial Committee dated August 1.
We agree to take the policy of leaving the middle unchanged while leveling both ends as the basis for resolving the land question in Henan. Specifically, the land of the middle peasants shall remain entirely untouched, and we should not follow the provisions concerning middle-peasant land set forth in the Outline of the Land Law.


After the establishment of the Central People’s Government, the Outline of the Land Law will need to be revised.


Apart from the above point, when implementing land-reform measures in the South and other new areas, it is essential to correct certain shortcomings observed during the northern land reform—for example, by refraining from completely dispossessing landlords and rich peasants, and by adopting appropriate working methods, such as convening district- and township-level conferences of peasant representatives.


Moreover, Party leadership organs at all levels must assume full responsibility for directing the entire rural movement; any recurrence of the anarchic, undisciplined conditions that prevailed in the past must be strictly prohibited.


With the exception of Henan and a few other localities, the vast majority of new areas are not yet at a stage where land can be distributed—neither this year nor next. Rather, these regions are currently in a preparatory phase for land distribution.


Even during this preparatory period, the various Central Bureaus, Central Sub-bureaus, provincial committees, and regional Party committees must firmly grasp the leadership of rural work and must under no circumstances relax their oversight.


All major decisions must be reported to the Central Committee in advance and implemented only after obtaining its approval.


Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript on August 10.


Notes: １ This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong on behalf of the CPC Central Committee. ２ Refers to the Outline of the Chinese Land Law, adopted by the National Land Conference of the CPC on September 13, 1947.