Instruction on the Draft Notice Regarding Inspection Tours

(May 16, 1955)

Shang Kun:[2] Use telephone
to [ask] Zhou, Chen, Peng Zhen[3] whether they have any opinions. If none, issue immediately.

Return to Shang Kun for issuance on the 17th, and immediately print and distribute to the representatives from various provinces and municipalities who have come to Beijing.

[1] This instruction by Mao Zedong was written on a letter dated May 16, 1955, from Deng Xiaoping, Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, submitting for review the draft of a Central Committee notice concerning deputies to the People’s Congress conducting inspection tours in various localities. The Central Committee notice stated: The Second Session of the First National People’s Congress will convene in early July 1955. Prior to the session, all deputies to the National People’s Congress will proceed to various localities or conduct inspections in nearby cities and villages. The focus of these inspections will primarily be on issues such as grain and construction in cities, particularly the problem of waste; in villages, the focus will primarily be on the unified purchase and sale of grain, public security, agricultural production, and mutual aid and cooperation. Localities should adopt an active and welcoming attitude toward the deputies’ inspections.

[2] Shang Kun, namely Yang Shangkun, then serving as Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the General Office of the Central Committee.

[3] Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chen refers to Chen Yun, then serving as Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Vice Premier of the State Council. Peng Zhen, then serving as Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.