Comment on the Telegram Regarding Chen Shaoyu’s[1] Inability to Attend the Party’s Eighth National Congress
(September 10, 1956)

Comrade Xiaoping[2]:
This document[3] may be printed and distributed to all delegates.

Mao Zedong
September 10

[1] Chen Shaoyu, namely Wang Ming, was then a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and was recuperating from illness in the Soviet Union.
[2] Xiaoping, namely Deng Xiaoping, was then Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[3] Refers to the telegram sent by Chen Shaoyu on September 8, 1956, to Liu Shaoqi, to be forwarded to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong. The telegram stated: "Since receiving the Central Committee's telegram on August 7 expressing the hope that I might attend the Eighth National Congress if my health permitted, I personally, along with the medical and nursing staff, have made further efforts. However, my physical condition still does not permit the possibility of returning to China to participate in the study of the Eighth National Congress. I therefore have no choice but to specifically request leave from the Central Committee and the Presidium of the Eighth National Congress with a profound sense of shame and regret."