Comment on the
"Memorandum of the 1953 Ordnance Production Conference"
(December 2, 1952)

Comrade Yang Shangkun [1]:

In the division of labor regulations [2] you are currently drafting, an item should be added: When various commissions, ministries, and committees discuss important issues, they should make concise records and submit them for review. The Military Commission has already been doing this through Xiao Xiangrong [3], which is very useful. This document was made by Feng Yongshun [4], and it is also very good, much more economical than submitting lengthy reports for review.

Mao Zedong
December 2
[1] Yang Shangkun, then Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.
[2] This division of labor regulation later took the form of the "Decision (Draft) on Strengthening the System of Requesting Instructions and Reporting to the Central Committee by Various Departments of the Central People's Government System and Strengthening the Central Committee's Leadership over Government Work" issued by the CPC Central Committee on March 10, 1953. The draft decision stipulated that the various departments of the government "should record the important matters discussed or decided at the meeting in the most concise language and report them," which could be used as a way to reflect the situation to the Central Committee.
[3] Xiao Xiangrong, then Director of the General Office of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission.
[4] Feng Yongshun, then Deputy Minister of the Ordnance Department of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission.