Telegram from the Military Commission to Peng Dehuai [1] and Others Requesting a Report on the Numbers of Killed, Wounded, and Missing in the Volunteer Army
(December 31, 1950)

Peng, Deng, Piao, Hong [2], and inform the Ninth Army Corps:

From October 19, when our entire Volunteer Army entered Korean territory to fight, up to December 31, including the Northwest Two Campaigns and the Northeast Campaign [3], we request a clear report by telegraph on the numbers of killed, wounded, and missing on the battlefields, as well as those frozen to death, frostbitten, dead from illness, those who left the ranks due to sickness, and those killed or wounded by bombing during movements. This should include figures for each army and the total for the entire force.

Military Commission
December 31

[1] Peng Dehuai, then serving as Commander and Political Commissar of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
[2] Deng and Piao refer to Deng Hua and Piao Yiyu, both then serving as Deputy Commanders and Deputy Political Commissars of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. Hong refers to Hong Xuezhi, then serving as Deputy Commander of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
[3] The Northwest Two Campaigns and the Northeast Campaign here refer to the First Campaign and the Second Campaign conducted by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army on the Korean battlefield. The Northwest Two Campaigns refer to the First Campaign and the operations on the western front of the Second Campaign; the Northeast Campaign refers to the operations on the eastern front of the Second Campaign.

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Inscription for *The Collected Works of Qu Qiubai*
and a Letter to Yang Zhihua [1]
(December 31, 1950)

Fifteen years have passed since the death of Comrade Qu Qiubai [2]. During his lifetime, many people did not understand him or even opposed him, yet his courage to work for the people was never dampened. In the difficult years of the revolution, he maintained a heroic stance, preferring to walk toward the executioner’s blade rather than submit. His spirit of working for the people, his unyielding will in the face of death, and the thoughts preserved in his writings will live on forever and never die. Comrade Qu Qiubai was someone willing to use his mind to think; he was a man of ideas. The publication of his posthumous works will benefit the youth and the cause of the people, especially in the realm of culture.

Mao Zedong
December 31, 1950

Comrade Zhihua:
Your letter has been received. The publication of Comrade Qu Qiubai’s collected works is excellent. I have written a few lines—I wonder if they are usable? Here is my reply. Wishing you good health!

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Mao Zedong
December 31