Telegram on the Drafts of the Queue Regulations, Interior Service Regulations, and Discipline Regulations
(1 February 1951)

To the heads of all greater military regions and all special arms, and to the Military Academy:

The drafting of the Queue Regulations, Interior Service Regulations, and Discipline Regulations has been entrusted to the General Staff Department for issuance to the entire army on a trial basis.

It has been observed that, owing to the development of the Chinese revolutionary situation, our army was for a long period in a state of fragmentation, and nationwide victory was achieved only a little over a year ago. Moreover, our army’s weapons and equipment were mostly captured from the enemy during the war, and their types are extremely diverse. These reasons alone have resulted in our past lack of uniformity in organization, equipment, actions, and even in certain systems. Following nationwide victory, in order to fulfill the new tasks of regularizing and modernizing the national defense forces, the unification of organization, the unification of equipment, the unification of actions, and the unification of systems have become the unanimous demand of the entire army. To this end, the Military Training Department convened military education cadres from various regions to jointly discuss and formulate the above three draft regulations, to serve as the current unified standards. The formulation of these three draft regulations primarily refers to the various regulations of the Soviet army, while also taking into account our national customs. Therefore, they are temporarily issued for trial implementation by the General Staff Department. After our various units have put forward their opinions based on practical experience, the Military Training Department shall collect them and make revisions, and then submit them to the Chairman of the Military Commission for approval, after which they shall be formally ordered and promulgated.

Mao Zedong
Chairman, People’s Revolutionary Military Commission
1 February 1951

In February 1951, Mao Zedong, in his capacity as Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission, promulgated the draft Queue Regulations, draft Interior Service Regulations, and draft Discipline Regulations. The picture shows the telegram to all military regions and other units concerning the promulgation of these three regulations.