Comment on the Article 'We Are Going to Raise Twenty Thousand Hogs in One Commune'
(November 9, 1956)

Source: Kau & Leung, The Writings of Mao Zedong 1949-1976, Vol. II
Pages 151-151
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Cambodia, on behalf of the Chinese people and on my own behalf, I extend warm
congratulations to you and to the Cambodian people. May the relations of cooperation and friendship between China and Cambodia be further strengthened and

developed.
(Signed as Chairman of PRC, dated in Beijing)

Comment on the Article
‘We Are Going to Raise Twenty Thousand
Hogs in One Commune’’

(November 9, 1956)

Source: RMRB (Dec. 23, 1956), 1. Other Chinese Texts: Wansui (n.d. 3), p. 111;
Ziliao xuanbian, p. 179; XHBYK, 101 (Jan. 25, 1957), 72. Available English
Translation: FBIS, Daily Report (Dec. 27, 1956), BBBS.

This comment was written for the article (herein named) written by Song Baoen, deputy
director of the Shimensong xiang APC in Yanggu xian, Shandong province. This article
appeared in Nongcun gongzuo tongxun (Rural Work Bulletin), 8 (Dec. 20, 1956 ). It, together
with Mao’s comment, was printed and issued to cadres attending the Second Plenum of the
Eighth Central Committee of the CPC, Nov. 10-15, 1956. The Ziliao xuanbian Source gives
the date of this comment as Nov. 19, 1956; we believe this to be a mistake,

Comrades in positions of responsibility of each province, municipality, and
[autonomous] region, please take note: If you agree, then reprint this article and
distribute to all agricultural cooperatives so that they can use it for reference, and
follow its example. It should be known that Yanggu xian is the birthplace of the
tiger-slaying hero Wu Song.! But in this area, hog raising was not a common
practice. This cooperative has changed this custom and has started to raise hogs.
The first year was a failure; the second year was a success: the third year saw
development; and the fourth year saw tremendous development with an average of
two hogs for each person and a total of twenty thousand. [If] this cooperative can
do it this way, why can’t other cooperatives also do it this way?

Note

--- Notes

1. Wu Song is a key character in the classical novel Shuihu zhuan (Water Margin). The
Story of how he killed a tiger was told in the twenty-second hui of the novel. Wu Song has
“become a hero in Chinese folklore.