Peaceful Liberation of Suiyuan [I]
(September 20, 1949)
[By Xinhua News Agency, Peiping, the 20th] Commander Nie Rongzhen and Political Commissar Bo Yibo of the North China Military Region sent a telegram on this day to congratulate the peaceful liberation of Suiyuan. The telegram read as follows:
General Dong Qiwu, all officers and soldiers who rose in revolt in Suiyuan, and administrative personnel at all levels:
Upon receipt of your communiqué of September 19, announcing your withdrawal from the reactionary remnants of Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, Yan Xishan, and other forces relying on U.S. imperialism, and your joining the ranks of the people’s revolution, thereby bringing about the peaceful liberation of Suiyuan, we are filled with great satisfaction and extend our warmest congratulations. From now on, within the entire territory of North China, the stronghold that the Kuomintang reactionaries had vainly sought to make their last bastion of resistance has been swept away. This is highly advantageous both for the future construction of North China and for the cause of the military and civilian populations of North China in supporting the final victory of the nationwide War of Liberation.
The day when the remaining elements of the Kuomintang reactionaries will be completely eliminated is drawing near. A new People’s Republic, ushering in a new historical era in China’s five-thousand-year history, has already been born.
We earnestly hope that you will continue to maintain unity,
closely cooperate with the military and civilian masses of North China and the liberated areas throughout the country, stabilize local order, thoroughly expose all vestiges of the reactionary forces, and, in the spirit of serving the people, educate and retrain your troops, transform their thinking, reform their work style, strive for progress, and build Suiyuan into a genuine people’s liberated area. At the same time, you should reorganize your army into a true People’s Liberation Army, so as to contribute to the building of a new Suiyuan, a new North China, and the complete liberation of the whole of China.
This is the congratulatory telegram dated September 20, sent by Commander Nie Rongzhen and Political Commissar Bo Yibo of the North China Military Region to Dong Qiwu of the Suiyuan uprising, as revised by Mao Zedong, and submitted to Xinhua News Agency for publication. The original title was “Congratulatory Telegram to General Dong Qiwu et al.”
[2]
Here there were two instances of the word “reactionary”; Mao Zedong circled out one of them.

Please publish this tonight, Qiaomu, so it can appear in tomorrow’s papers.
P l
[I]
This is Mao Zedong’s instruction to Hu Qiaomu regarding this document.
Nie Rongzhen
Bo Yibo
September 20th
Mao

~x l9
4ji
Manuscript of the Xinhua News Agency dispatch “Telegram of Congratulations from General Nie Rongzhen and Political Commissar Bo Yibo on the Peaceful Liberation of Suiyuan,” as revised by Mao Zedong.