Comrade Ruiqi:

I am sending Comrade Ma Hanrong to attend your wedding. I wish you both a lifetime of shared white hair, and may you strive to contribute more to the building of the new China. Along with this, I am sending one hundred yuan—please accept it.

Mao Zedong
[I]
Zhang Ruiqi became Mao Zedong’s guard on December 28, 1944, and the following year was appointed head of the guard squad. He left Beijing and returned to his hometown in 1949. On December 30, 1949, Zhang Ruiqi’s wedding was held in Yuanjiagou, Qingjian County, northern Shaanxi. Mao Zedong sent Ma Hanrong to attend the wedding and wrote this letter.

Letter to Li Min [1]
(1949)

Jiaojiao:

I was very happy to see your letter.

You are my own daughter, and I am your own father. You went to the Soviet Union for over ten years, and we have not seen each other all this time. You must have grown up and grown taller, haven’t you? Papa misses you and is very fond of you. I hope you will quickly return to Papa’s side. Papa has already asked Comrade He Yi [2] to make a special trip to the Northeast to bring you back. Papa welcomes you home.

Mao Zedong

[1]
Li Min is the daughter of Mao Zedong and He Zizhen. Her childhood name was “Jiaojiao,” also called “Jiaojiao.” The name Mao Zedong used in this letter to his daughter Li Min is “Jiaojiao.”

[2]
He Yi, a native of Yongxin County, Ji’an, Jiangxi Province, was the wife of Mao Zedong’s third younger brother Mao Zetan and the younger sister of He Zizhen.