Comments on the North China Bureau’s Instruction Regarding the Number of “Tigers” to Be Caught in Shanxi Province (January 30, 1952) Comrades: Both the documents issued by the North China Bureau and the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee [1] are excellent. The North China Bureau suggests that a province like Shanxi should have between one thousand and one thousand three hundred tigers, including at least one hundred to one hundred thirty big tigers. In my view, this figure is merely a conservative estimate, and the actual number could well exceed it. Moreover, the tigers existing in society—that is, among industrialists and merchants—are not yet accounted for. I urge party committees of all provinces and cities to formulate their own “smashing tigers” budgets based on local conditions and submit them to the respective Central Bureaus and the Central Committee. The several practical experiences regarding “smashing tigers” shared by the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee [2] are also very valuable. Mao Zedong January 30 Printed from the manuscript. Notes [1] The document from the North China Bureau refers to the instruction issued by the CPC North China Bureau on January 30, 1952, stating that Shanxi Province should capture between one thousand and one thousand three hundred tigers, with more than ten percent being big tigers. The document from the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee refers to the report submitted by the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee to the North China Bureau on January 28, 1952, detailing Shanxi’s achievements in combating corruption.

[2] The experiences summarized in the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee’s January 28th report to the North China Bureau concerning the capture of medium- and large-scale tigers include: Utilizing and controlling petty criminals who are willing to repent, secretly enlisting their help in investigating other illegal businessmen; Assigning female comrades to work with the families of medium- and large-scale corrupt officials; Concentrating efforts on exposing the “defensive alliances” between corrupt officials themselves and between corrupt officials and private merchants, which constitutes a decisive step in capturing medium- and large-scale tigers.