Letter to Huang Yanpei [1] (December 17, 1954)  Mr. Huang: Your kind letter and your important article [2] have been received. I have had several comrades read them, and it will be necessary to wait a little before I can return them to you. I would appreciate your understanding.  Wishing you every day good health,  Mao Zedong  December 17

Printed from the manuscript.

Notes

[1] Huang Yanpei was at that time Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

[2] “Your kind letter” refers to a letter dated December 15, 1954, which Huang Yanpei addressed to Mao Zedong. In this letter, he described his experience undergoing prostate surgery at Beijing Hospital on November 15, 1954, as well as the current situation in the industrial and commercial circles. With regard to the latter, he wrote: Since emphasis has been placed on patriotism and law-abiding conduct, there has been some progress in these circles; however, problems still remain, some of them quite serious. In particular, small and medium-sized industrial and commercial enterprises find it difficult to be guided toward state capitalism, with small and medium-sized retail businesses facing the greatest challenges. Heilongjiang Province has combined the unified marketing of cotton cloth with the comprehensive transformation of all private cloth merchants, adopting three approaches—retention, conversion to other lines of business, and transformation—which serves as an excellent model. If other localities adapt this approach to their own specific circumstances, they should be able to accomplish the task of transforming private industry and commerce.  “Your important article” refers to Huang Yanpei’s essay entitled “Four Answers to Questions Concerning Ideological Issues.”