Directive on the Requirement That All Official Documents Clearly State the Year, Month, and Day of Issuance [1] (September 27, 1953) To Peng [2], with copy to Comrade Xiao Xiangrong [3]: (1) This document is approved for implementation as written. (2) To date, documents issued by the Central Military Commission and its various departments and systems still only include the month and day, omitting the year.
Only in this telegram drafted by Liu Shaowen do we find “1953,” though even here the character for “year” is missing.
Please instruct all subordinate units that henceforth every official document must clearly state the year, month, and day of issuance; it is unacceptable to list only the month and day without the year.
Mao Zedong, September 27th.
Printed from the manuscript.
Notes [1] This directive was written on a report dated September 23, 1953, submitted by Liu Shaowen, acting head of the Fourth Department of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission, to Peng Dehuai—with copy to the Central Committee—concerning the streamlining of certain institutions in the Tibet region. [2] Peng refers to Peng Dehuai, who at the time served as Vice Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission. [3] Xiao Xiangrong was then Director of the General Office of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission.
[4] Refers to a telegram drafted by Liu Shaowen on September 27, 1953, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the Military Commission, addressed to the Tibet Working Committee, the Southwest Bureau, and the Southwest Military Region, concerning the streamlining of certain institutions in the Tibet region.