Notes on Three Documents from the Ministry of National Defense Concerning the Award of Medals and Decorations to Distinguished Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army of China〔1〕 (November 20, 1954) 1. Carry out as proposed. Several words have been deleted. Mao Zedong, November 20 2. The six characters “and Chairman Mao Zedong” should be omitted. Mao Zedong, November 20 Printed according to the manuscript. Note 〔1〕 This section (1) consists of Mao Zedong’s annotations on three documents submitted by the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China on November 3, 1954, regarding the awarding of medals and decorations to distinguished personnel of the People’s Liberation Army of China.

Prior to Mao Zedong’s review, on November 16, 1954, Yang Shangkun forwarded these three documents to Zhou Enlai together with a letter, in which he pointed out that one issue in the draft resolution and the draft regulations required consideration. Specifically, the terms “the Second Domestic Revolutionary War Period” and “the Third Domestic Revolutionary War Period” used in the original texts, when discussed by the Political Bureau, were deemed likely to raise questions concerning the First Domestic Revolutionary War Period. Accordingly, it was proposed to revise them as “the Period of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army” and “the Liberation War Period,” respectively. On November 19, Zhou Enlai transmitted these documents, having reviewed and revised them himself, to Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi for their approval. As a result, the expressions “the Second Domestic Revolutionary War Period” and “the Third Domestic Revolutionary War Period” in the documents were changed to “the Period of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army” and “the Liberation War Period,” respectively. When Mao Zedong stated in annotation (1), “Carry out as proposed,” he was referring to this very matter. The reference to “several words having been deleted” pertains to his revision of the draft resolution of the Standing Committee of the First National People’s Congress on awarding medals and decorations to those who had distinguished themselves during the Chinese People’s Revolutionary War: he removed the six characters “and Chairman Mao Zedong” from the sentence “Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao Zedong, the People’s Liberation Army, together with the people of the whole country, heroically waged a long revolutionary war.” Section (2) of this document comprises Mao Zedong’s annotation on the aforementioned draft resolution of the NPC Standing Committee in connection with this revision.