Letter Drafting Instructions for Telegram Writing to Hu Qiaomu [1] (November 22, 1950)  Comrade Qiaomu: Please take charge of drafting, in the name of the Central Committee, an instruction to rectify the shortcomings in telegram writing. For example: do not use the twelve earthly branches—zi, chou, yin, mao—or the rhyme groups—dong, dong, jiang, zhi—to stand in for the month and day; always write out the full month and day, such as “November 22.” As a general rule, signatures should include the full name; do not just write the surname without the given name. Surnames alone may be used only when the reader is fully familiar with the person, as in the cases of Liu Deng [2] and Chen Rao [3]. Place names and organizational titles should generally be written in full; abbreviated provincial designations like “Jingjinhuhan” are permitted only in very rare instances. Furthermore, the structure of the text must conform to grammatical rules: the omission of subjects, objects, or other necessary nouns is prohibited, and adjectives and adverbs must be distinguished according to their respective functions, and so forth.  Please draft a preliminary version, then convene one or two meetings with Yang Shangkun, Li Tao, Qi Yanming, Xue Mubiao [4], and any other comrades you deem necessary, to revise and enrich the document before submitting it to me for review.  Mao Zedong November 22 Based on the manuscript. Included in Selected Letters of Mao Zedong.

Notes [1] Hu Qiaomu was at that time Mao Zedong’s secretary. [2] Liu refers to Liu Bocheng; Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping. [3] Chen refers to Chen Yi; Rao refers to Rao Shushi. [4] Yang Shangkun was then Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. Li Tao was then Director of the Operations Department of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission. Qi Yanming was then Director of the General Office of the Central People’s Government. Xue Mubiao was then Secretary-General of the Financial and Economic Commission of the State Council.