Annotations and Reply to Comrade Jiang Zhuru’s Letter [I]
(October 29, 1954)


The four suggestions enclosed with this letter [2] are worthy of attention. Please have Comrades Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping [3] review them.
[I]
Jiang Zhuru was a classmate of Mao Zedong when they both studied at Hunan Provincial No. 1 Normal School. At that time, he was a teacher at the Changsha Women’s Normal School.
[2]
Refers to the four suggestions appended to Jiang Zhuru’s letter to Mao Zedong dated August 9, 1954:
(1) Regarding grain procurement, it seems that the practice of encouraging overfulfillment through competitive challenges should be prohibited. It appears inappropriate for local cadres, in implementing policy, to engage in mutual competition to achieve excess targets. Given farmers’ limited harvests, the more grain the state takes, the less remains for the farmers themselves. Last year, during the grain procurement campaign, townships competed with one another to exceed their quotas, leading some households classified as lacking sufficient grain to be upgraded to “grain-sufficient” status, and those already grain-sufficient to be further elevated to “grain-surplus” status. As a result, the morale of many farmers was undermined, their enthusiasm for production declined, and the state’s plan to increase agricultural output was adversely affected. (2) In view of frequent flooding, preparations should be made for large-scale reservoir construction. This year, Hunan Province has suffered exceptionally severe water disasters; not only have lakeside areas been affected, but mountainous and hilly regions have also sustained substantial losses. The only effective method of future flood prevention is to construct large reservoirs in key valleys—both to control floods and to mitigate droughts, thus achieving two objectives with a single measure. (3) The current special education system should be improved. Hunan’s Yucai Kindergarten, the Provincial Kindergarten, and the Military Region Kindergarten stand out within the education sector as highly centralized institutions with extensive administrative staff and considerable expenditure. This not only gives the public a negative impression but also fails to benefit the children, who become accustomed to a life of luxury. (4) Free travel privileges for railway employees’ family members should be restricted. Currently, workers in all sectors rely on their wages to meet their families’ basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. However, railway workers’ relatives enjoy the right to free travel, an exceptional privilege that is neither reasonable nor equitable. It both reduces state revenue and creates a special regime that can have an adverse psychological impact on the general public. Such free travel rights should be limited solely to the employees themselves.
[3]
Chen Yun was then a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Deng Xiaoping, referred to here as “Xiaoping,” was at the time Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
The writer is a secondary school teacher and my former classmate.


Brother Zhuru:
Your letter dated August 9th has been received.
The four suggestions are very good; I have already informed the relevant comrades to take note.
This is my reply.
)|Blessings
Wishing you good health
Mao Zedong
October 29th
Mao Zedong
October 29th, 1954
Manuscript of Mao Zedong’s letter to Jiang Zhuru.
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