Commentary on the United Front Work Department’s Request Report Concerning the Arrangement of a Personnel-Appointment Work Conference [1] (December 12, 1953) The National People’s Congress is not to be convened until September of next year; it would be inadvisable to hold such a conference too early. It would be more appropriate to schedule it for late spring or early summer next year. Mao Zedong, December 12. Printed from the manuscript. Notes [1] Refers to the request report submitted by the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee to Liu Shaoqi, with a copy to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee, dated November 17, 1953. The report stated that, in order to comprehensively study the specific plans drawn up by the central authorities and by the provinces and municipalities for the appointment of non-Party figures under the system of people’s congresses, it was proposed to convene a personnel-appointment work conference in January 1954. The agenda would include: reviewing the proportion of non-Party members in the people’s congresses, government committees, and united front organizations of the various provinces and municipalities, as well as the detailed personnel-appointment proposals; and formulating preliminary proposals regarding the proportion of non-Party members, the list of candidates, and the constituencies and units from which they would be elected to the National People’s Congress and to the Second CPPCC National Committee.