Order Announcing the Decision on Issues Such as the Number of Deputies to People’s Congresses at the County, City, Municipal District, Township, Ethnic Township, and Town Levels
(May 12, 1956)
The Standing Committee of the First National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China adopted at its fortieth meeting on May 12, 1956, a decision concerning the number of deputies to people’s congresses at the county, city, municipal district, township, ethnic township, and town levels, which is hereby promulgated.
Chairman of the People’s Republic of China: Mao Zedong
May 12, 1956
Printed according to the edition in the People’s Daily of May 13, 1956.

Notice from the Central Committee Regarding Specific Arrangements for Reports by Provincial and Municipal Party Committees to the Central Committee on Their Work
(May 14, 1956)
To all Provincial, Municipal, and Autonomous Region Party Committees:
With regard to your reports to the Central Committee on work matters, several provinces and municipalities in the Central-South region have already begun. Next, those in East China will be invited to report, likely between May 25 and June 10. Following that, provinces and municipalities in Southwest, Northwest, North, and Northeast China will be asked to report, scheduled from June 10 through the end of July. The topics for these reports can be divided into the following categories: (1) Industry—heavy industry, light industry, and handicrafts—including socialist transformation of industries under central government administration, local administration, and private enterprises; (2) Transportation—land, water, and air transport, both modern and backward; (3) Commerce—domestic trade, foreign trade, supply-and-marketing cooperatives, and private commerce undergoing socialist transformation; (4) Agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy; (5) Finance and banking; (6) Cadre work, i.e., educational efforts. For each of these areas, you should provide both historical background and a description of the current situation, along with long-term plans spanning seven or twelve years, prioritizing matters under local jurisdiction or those that local authorities wish to manage, with assistance from central ministries as needed. These reports may be written in any length appropriate to their content, ranging from a few thousand words up to ten thousand, twenty thousand, or even more. In addition, there are the following items: (7) Matters related to the united front; (8) Arrangements for counter-revolutionary elements, primarily employment issues;
(10) Issues concerning ethnic minorities
(9) Employment arrangements for the unemployed;
(if a particular locality does not face such problems, this item may be omitted); (11) Other special issues—for example, in Guangdong, questions pertaining to overseas Chinese and their relatives, fishermen, salt workers, and Hong Kong and Macao. Each of these additional topics should be addressed separately in a few thousand words, forming distinct sections rather than being combined into one continuous document. Given the total number of topics—more than a dozen—it will not be possible to prepare and present everything in a single session. You may divide the preparation and reporting into two or three separate occasions. It is hoped that these matters will be thoroughly discussed and carefully considered by your respective committees, though perfection is not required; imperfections are acceptable. During the reporting period, in addition to the first secretary, you may bring along several assistants directly involved in the relevant work. Among all these issues, priority should be given to items one through six, with item one being the primary focus. Once preparations for item one are complete, a preliminary report may be submitted. The report should include factual materials and analytical commentary, prominently criticizing shortcomings and errors in both central and local work, exposing contradictions—including those between the central and local levels—and offering suggestions for resolution. Even immature ideas may be put forward. The specific timing of the reports will be coordinated with you by telephone.
The Central Committee
May 14, 1956
Printed according to Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript.

Text Written at the End of the Outline for Hubei Province’s Report on Financial and Trade Work [1]
(May 1956)
Nationalization of capitalist enterprises should proceed somewhat more slowly:
(1) Hold them by the tail;
(2) Still earn interest;
(3) Have time; let us take the initiative.
Lessons learned:
Personnel and business arrangements must be made swiftly;
Economic transformation should be carried out step by step.
Printed according to Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript.
Notes
Supplementary Notice from the Central Committee Regarding Reports by Provincial and Municipal Party Committees to the Central Committee on Their Work
(May 20, 1956)
To all Provincial, Municipal, and Autonomous Region Party Committees:
Recently, provincial and municipal party committees in Guangdong, Hubei, Wuhan, and Guangzhou have reported to the Central Committee on economic affairs, covering the entirety of local economic activity, including both centrally administered and locally managed sectors. In the industrial sector, they drew lessons primarily from large enterprises under central government control, such as the Yangtze River Bridge, the Wuhan Iron and Steel Company, the Yangtze River Navigation Administration, the Guangzhou Paper Mill, and the Guangdong Sugar Industry Company. Similarly, in the area of finance and trade, they analyzed and offered opinions based on the overall local financial, banking, and commercial activities. The Central Committee deems this approach highly commendable. Therefore, the provision stipulated in the Central Committee’s telegram of May 14 [1], which specified that reports should primarily focus on matters under local jurisdiction or those that local authorities wished to manage, with central government-administered affairs playing a secondary role, is hereby rescinded.
The Central Committee
May 20, 1956
Printed according to Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript.
Note

--- Notes

[1] These remarks by Mao Zedong were written at the very end of a draft outline for Hubei Province Governor Zhang Tixue’s report on the province’s financial and trade work. On the cover of the outline, Mao Zedong had inscribed: “May 19–20, 1956.”


[1] Refers to the Central Committee’s notice dated May 14, 1956, regarding the specific arrangements for reports by provincial and municipal party committees to the Central Committee. See pages £± 6–£± 7 of this volume.
£
± 9