Letter to Liu Yazi
(December 2, 1949)

Source: Shuxin, p. 352.

Liu Yazi was an outstanding poet of the old school. He was a scholar-revolutionary in
the late-Qing period and joined such associations as the Zhongguo jiaoyu hui (China
Education Society) headed by Zhang Binglin and Wu Zhihui, and the Aiguo xueshe
(Patriotic Study Association) headed by Cai Yuanpei, as well as Sun Yat-sen’s Tong-meng hui. He was also a charter member of the influential Nan she (Southern Society)
which was an association of literary and scholarly figures of the Suzhou - Shanghai -
Hangzhou area. This association, while not actively espousing a particularly political
ideology, included nonetheless among its members quite a few of the more radical revolutionaries of the late-Qing period such as Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing. As such it
continued to have great influence in the early Republican period. During the May


SEPTEMBER — DECEMBER l1¥4¥ / 4)

rth period Liu became a proponent of the new-style, vernacular (baihua) literature
Fou unded the Xin nan she (New Southern Society) to rival the Nan she, which had

i devoted solely to the old style of literature. In the mid-1920s Liu became an
bece and moderately influential member of the KMT, but he opposed the rightward
acne if the Party after Sun Yat-sen’s death. Later Liu would avoid serving in the vari-drift KMT governments — both Chiang Kai-shek’s Nanjing government and later Wang
ous wei’s Wuhan government. Rather he dedicated himself to historical and literary
tee its and led a secluded life in Shanghai (briefly) and Hong Kong. In 1941, as a
p vvult of his reaction to the New Fourth Army Incident, Liu was expelled from the
KMT. In the late-1940s Liu joined the Democratic League and formed the San min
zhuyi tongzhi lianhe hui (Association of the Comrades of the Three People’s Principle)
and, in 1948, the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee. He returned to Beijing in
1949 and was a member of the Government Administration Council of the new PRC
government and of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress until his
death of pneumonia in 1958. Liu was one of the group of “democratic personages, ”
including such figures as Ma Yinchu and Ma Xulun, who were respected by Mao and
other leaders of the CPC. For more biographical information on Liu, see H. Boorman

ot al., eds. (1968), II, pp. 421-423.

Dear Venerable Mr. Liu:'

Your letter of November 4 has long been received. I apologize for the fact
that, owing to my hectic schedule, I have been so tardy in responding. I have
not seen the letter written in the train, but I thank you deeply for your warm
and kind thoughts. At a moment of convenience I will make an inquiry on
your behalf on the matter of the book for inscription.” Mr. Zhou’ indeed has a
very busy schedule of receiving visitors and official business, and perhaps he
has forgotten it. As for the [delay in the] matter of the literary and historical
organization,’ it could perhaps be a result of the same problem. Again, at my
convenience I shall ask about it.

In response, and with my regards,

Mao Zedong
December 2

Notes

1. Here Mao used the term Jao to refer to Liu’s venerated status. See text Feb. 17, 1951.

ion According to the source, this refers to a book “Commemorative Volume I on the Yi Pavil-
3 ich Liu sent to Mao for inscription in 1949.

6 thi ins refers to Zhou Enlai. Mao is employing a double-entendre here. The saying he used, tu
of Lu) Shi a derivation of the aphorism tu puo fa, from the “Lu Shijia” (Chronicle of the House
Zhou Go i ji (Historical Records), which describes the diligence of the historical figure
and had hn of Zhou) in ancient days, saying that he stopped in the middle of eating
Visitors aed oid his hair which had been disassembled in the middle of a bath in order to receive
hou here « business. Mao apparently placed significance in the coincidence of the “name”
. The Duke of Zhou was the chief minister of the founder of the great Zhou dynasty of

ancie :
Re nt days, and Zhou Enlai, to whom Mao was in fact referring, was the premier of the People’s
Public of China.

4. Ace

lishi Ording to the source, this refers to a proposal that Liu made on the preparations for estab-

n te : .
8 a historical archive and museum under the Central Committee of the CPC.