Annotation on the Directive on Shifting to the Investigation of Corruption
(January 27, 1952)

To the various Greater Military Districts and the Chinese People’s Volunteers:

The document of the Central-South Military District dated January 25[1] is good and is hereby forwarded to you for reference. The Central-South Region started the Three-Antis Campaign relatively late; therefore, those units that have not yet completed the two stages of democratic inspection and the struggle against small and medium-sized corruption must complete them before they can enter the third stage of tiger hunting. The various Greater Military Districts and the Chinese People’s Volunteers must do likewise. However, all units that have already completed the tasks of the first and second stages should immediately reorganize their ranks and hunt tigers. But all backward units throughout the entire army must, at the latest, enter the tiger-hunting stage by February 10 or 15. The seven suspicious traces for finding big tigers listed in the Central-South document are applicable to both the military system and the local system.

Mao Zedong
January 27

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1. Units where the democratic inspection against extravagance and waste and against bureaucracy has been carried out relatively thoroughly should immediately shift to the anti-corruption struggle; units where the democratic inspection is not yet thorough must complete it within a set deadline and then shift to the anti-corruption struggle.
2. All corrupt elements, large and small, must be completely rooted out; especially, major corrupt elements must not be let off, as they are the main targets of the anti-corruption struggle.
3. The following seven suspicious traces are to be used in searching for major corruption offenders:
(1) Living extravagantly, behaving in a degenerate manner, with money of unknown origin;
(2) Having commercial dealings with merchants that exceed normal bounds, accepting extra gifts from them or exchanging gifts;
(3) Issuing permits, travel passes, military uniforms, and pistols to merchants, enabling them to travel between various markets and allowing them to swindle and bluff;
(4) Buying inferior goods at high prices, adulterating, giving short weight, cheating on labor and materials, making advance payments, delaying deliveries, not pursuing outstanding debts, and reporting losses or fraud without reasonable grounds;
(5) Investing or providing loans to private shops, depositing money in private banks to earn interest;
(6) Keeping unclear accounts, setting up false accounts, altering accounts, and privately burning account books and receipts without the approval of the responsible person;
(7) Using public funds and public vehicles to do business for their relatives.

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[1] Refers to the Directive of the Central-South Military District Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on Shifting the Three-Antis Campaign to the Investigation of Corruption, dated January 25, 1952. Its main contents include: