To Yang Kaizhi1
(August 10, 1949)
Mr. Yang Kaizhi:
I received your letter. I am very glad that your mother remains in good health.
Please send her my regards. Anying and Anqing are both in Beiping.2 Anqing is
still in school. Anying may well be able to go back to Hunan to work. He very
much wants to visit his grandmother. Zhan’er3 honorably sacrificed herself for
our country eight years ago during the War of Resistance Against Japan in North
China. She was among millions of victims, so you need not grieve. My health is
very good; please tell your mother not to worry about me. It is wonderful that you
are engaged in the enterprise of agricultural production. At your convenience,
please let me know whether your family is adequately provided for. Awaiting
your reply. Take care.
Mao Zedong
Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, p. 330, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Yang Kaizhi (1898–1982, born in Changsha) was the elder brother of Mao’s wife,
Yang Kaihui.
2.  Mao Anying was Mao Zedong’s eldest son. Mao Anqing was Mao Zedong’s second
son.
3.  Zhan’er, i.e., Yang Zhan (1920–1941, born in Changsha), was the daughter of Yang
Kaizhi.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-301