Comrade:

The North China Bureau's several decisions regarding the Hebei Provincial Committee[1] and the stipulated number of tigers to be beaten in Hebei Province should be published in your party journals. Hebei Province (excluding the two cities of Beijing and Tianjin) has a population of 30 million. The stipulated number is 2,300 small tigers and 200 big tigers to be beaten. This is appropriate. Each province is requested to formulate its own tiger-beating plan in accordance with its population and other characteristics.

The current characteristic, just as in the early stage of the suppression of counterrevolutionaries when comrades underestimated the seriousness of the counterrevolutionaries, is an underestimation of the existence of major embezzlers. That is to say, there exists a serious right-leaning ideology, which must be continuously criticized in order to overcome such erroneous thinking. In serious cases, the various central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and military region party committees must make separate decisions, just as the North China Bureau did regarding the Hebei Provincial Committee, and this must be done swiftly, without hesitation or indecision.

Mao Zedong
February 4

[1] Refers to the decisions made by the North China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on February 3, 1952, to suspend all Party and non-Party posts of a then vice chairman of the Hebei Provincial People's Government and the commander of the Hebei Provincial Military Region of the People's Liberation Army, to conduct self-examination, and to make a thorough inspection within a one-week deadline, as well as the decisions to newly appoint one deputy secretary and two standing committee members of the provincial Party committee to strengthen the leadership of the Hebei Provincial Committee, etc.