Interjections at the Hangzhou Conference of the Shanghai Bureau
(April 1957)

Source: Kau & Leung, The Writings of Mao Zedong 1949-1976, Vol. II
Pages 516-528
============================================================
Source: Wansui (1969), pp. 100-109. Other Chinese texts: Wansui (n.d. 3), pp.
168-172; URI (1976), pp. 151-158. Available English Translations: JPRS, Miscellany, I, pp. 63-71; URI (1976), pp. 159-169.

According to K. Lieberthal (1976), p. 95, this conference at Hangzhou was probably held
in the first week of April 1957. Lieberthal’ s argument is sound. From text April 3, 1957, we
know that Mao was in Hangzhou by that date (although there is no confirmation of
Lieberthal’s speculation that the conference probably began on the Ist of the month). By
April 5, Mao was back in Beijing for the banquet for the Polish delegation (see text Apr. 8,
1957). His schedule of receptions and other activities in Beijing was quite full for the
remainder of the month, So it ts unlikely that he left Beijing during that time. Lieberthal also
remarks that if the conference was held April 1-7, then it could not have been attended by
many of the top-ranking CPC cadres other than Mao. What is also important is that this
speech would have been given (or prepared) at about the time that the April 10 RMRB
editorial (text Apr. 10, 1957) appeared, even though in the absence of a definite date for the
speech we have followed the editorial conventions of these volumes and placed it here, at
the end of April 1957. In other words, it would make better chronological sense to read this
as coming sometime immediately before the April 10 editorial. The crux of this conference
was to promote the Hundred Flowers campaign. In addition to Mao’ s speech here, a speech
was also made by Ke Qingshi, CPC Party secretary of Shanghai Municipality, which helped
fo ignite the campaign in Shanghai. According to the Wansui (1969) and Wansui (n.d. 3)
sources, this ts a transcript of interjections made by Mao during the discussion(s) on the
question of ideology at this conference. They were reorganized, presumably after the
conference, under five topics.

1. The situation among the intellectuals after the Supreme State Conference and
the Propaganda Conference:! There has been some relaxation of the tense atmo-


APRIL ~— JUNE 1957 / 517

sphere [among the intellectuals]; intellectuals outside the Party have taken the first
steps In drawing closer to us. Their indecisive mood is [now] brightened up
somewhat. The reports are not a panacea; we must still administer medicines
specific to each individual [case]. If we do not give [the intellectuals] what they
want, we will find ourselves in a passive position; give them what they want, and
then let they themselves be responsible for the quality of their contending themselves, for better or worse.” In any case, there will come a day when rectification
will fall upon our own heads.3 Our method is to rectify ourselves first, to put the
Party in good order, and, through rectification, make ourselves more modest and
reasonable. The issue of the day is not exactly our problem. [The situation among]
the intellectuals is like this: When the Leftists want democracy (relation [of
control])4 from them, when students want democracy from their professors, at such
times they have to come to us for help. When we relax control, they will begin a
contending of their own accord; when we tighten control, they will make demands
on us.

Last year the democratic parties> in Shanghai recruited over eleven thousand
members, and their internal problems have thus increased. Only the proletariat is
not afraid of a coup d’etat; if we make mistakes, we rectify them. [But the
democratic parties] are faced with more problems in their midst.

We must relax control; we must brace ourselves and let them attack. [Let them]
attack [us] for a year. Who asked us to be so dogmatic? Better to let four dogmatism]
be attacked and finished off. If the attack is excessively severe, let all the demons
and ogres come out and make a big stir.6 The Communist Party has to let itself be
scolded for a while; let them scold [us] for a few months, and let us think things
over. At the time of the Three-Anti’s Movement Comrade Chen Yi said, “We have
had our dictatorship for so many years, surely we can stand other people’s scolding
for a week?” The point is that if you [intellectuals] pour [abuses] on us like a
torrential downpour, we too would be caught by surprise and panic.8 Some
intellectuals are still afraid that [the Communists are] casting a long line to catch
bigger fish.? Some people say, “That’s right. the Communist Party enjoys great
prestige. As soon as one or two sentences are published in the newspaper [by the
Party], [it will be like] the wind when it sweeps across the grass and causes it to
rustle;! people will be scared.”

People outside the Party will be scared and people inside the Party will also be
scared. Even when [we are] correct [we] should show some modesty. [We do] pull
great weight; this we must understand. When people say [we are] casting a long
line to catch bigger fish, there is some reason for it. We let people criticize us now
and analyze [the criticism] later. Intellectuals are like birds which, having narrowly
escaped the arrow, are startled at the sound of the bow;!! they insist on [waiting to]
see [for themselves]; perhaps they will [wait and] see for twenty years. Within the
Party as well, people want to [wait and] see for themselves. [With the policy of|
curing the illness to save the patient,!2 for example, some people did not believe it
until they later witnessed the facts. [We] have to undergo many tests. The politics
of the Communist Party must be tested; leaders must be tested by those they lead.
In the past, intellectuals served the old rulers; now the relations of production have


been changed, and they no longer have a social base. In the past, intellectuals
entrusted themselves to feudalism, capitalism, and the system of individual production. Intellectuals served the class from which they came. The class from which
they came has now been destroyed, so they are suspended in midair; their feet are
not on solid ground. Now they are clinging to our body. Through the Communist
Party, the workers and peasants let them work and earn a living. We shall still have
to spend more than ten years cleansing [their] brains, and the method [we use] is
unity-criticism-unity.!> They don’t want to be subjected to criticism, but they can’t
bring themselves to say so. Right now there are over ten million people suspended
in midair; their brains are old[-fashioned]. This is nothing to be afraid of. Suspended
in midair, they very much need us to reach out and draw them in. If we stretch out
our arms warmly toward them, [we can draw them over] somewhat faster. [However,] it will not be such a simple matter to get the majority over. Those who
welcome change the most are the proletariat. The peasants’ greatest hope ts for
changes to occur with regard to Chiang Kai-shek, the U.S. imperialists, and the
landlords, but they do not wish for change in the small-scale, private ownership
system. The democratic parties and intellectuals, when they see the all-too-sudden
and rapid advent of a cultural revolution, may also change. The hair and the skin
have been separated, but the spirit is still lodged in the original hide. The hair is
stuck to the body of the proletariat; their spirits are often ill at ease.'4 If they were
not changing they would not be ill at ease. Not being at ease is a sign of change.
Some intellectuals’ world views cannot be transformed even over a long period. . ..
To test the world views of writers is to see if they can become one with the workers
and peasants, or if they remain separated from them. [Some, when they are] sent
to the countryside,!5 cannot speak truthfully to the peasants. The world view of
bureaucratists within the Party also poses a problem, [namely,] they are divorced
from the masses. They support Marxism, and yet they are completely at odds with
the masses; what kind of Marxism is that? There is a group of people in society
whose only worry is that there is no chaos in the land. They harbour anti-Communist thought, and they advocate fighting their way out. It will take decades to reform
them. Some will remain unreformed even when they die, but the majority can be
reformed. There are some who are old diehards who will remain unreformed until
death.

2. [We] must relax controls. To be afraid of relaxing controls suggests that we
have no adequately stated our reasons or that we have not convinced [people]. This
is an antibureaucratism [campaign] with leadership.!6 Whenever speaking out is
not allowed and there is no preparation whatsoever [for it], the result, [ironically, ]
will be a massive outburst of views.!7 We are for allowing people to speak out, The
worst that can happen is nothing more than some temporary disturbance. [We] work
for the people, and yet the people are not satisfied. Some people can’t understand
this and become very distressed. There will always be dissatisfied people. Some
people are satisfied and others are not. When people compare things with the past,
some are quite satisfied; they will still be dissatisfied when they compare things
with [what could be in] the future, or when they compare [themselves] with those
who are at present better off. This sort of situation will remain even after ten


aa re ar a,

jp ae a oem reid

APRIL ~ JUNE 1957 / 519

thousand years. If everybody were satisfied we might as well just go to sleep. We
have not even allowed people to speak up yet, so how do we know there will be
disturbances? In the class struggle of the past we were extreme in our vigilance;
now [let us] deviate a bit toward the Right. The solitary airing of a single school’s
[view]! has dominated for many years; now let there be some turmoil and we’ll
see what happens. It is not good to let obvious mistakes go uncriticized for a long
period of time. When there is too much grass once can use a tractor. Chiang
Kai-shek was not grass; [we had him] beaten in three years. Ten per cent of China’s
intellectuals understand Marxism; 80 per cent are patriotic and support socialism. !9
One can see that poisonous weeds are only the minority.2° Those that look
poisonous but are not, and those that are in between—that is, between wild weeds
and fresh flowers—are the majority. This is a reflection of social reality.

This problem is a new one; the cadres have not yet experienced it. [Let’s] try it,
and see what it’s like, and if we acquire a taste for it, then there will be no more
worries. Even if it is not explained clearly, will the people continue to oppose the
Communist Party? The majority [may] look poisonous but are not. Poisonous
weeds are the minority.

[am not encouraging people to make trouble, [nor am I] running a conference
to promote troublemaking. Troublemaking such as attacking [government] offices
must be punished. {Nevertheless,] some disorder is inevitable. Right now, people
outside the Party are in high spirits. After a time the spirits of those inside the Party
will also rise; [spirits] are low at first, but then they will rise.2!

By solving some problems, we gained some experience. Every principle and
policy of the Party must be taken to the masses to be tested.22 We should let the
cadres go and test [things out] in their work.

Being afraid on the one hand and fearless on the other, being happy on the one
hand and unhappy on the other, having solved the problems and not having solved
them this is dialectics. It is like waging war; in the beginning one is apprehensive,
but the more one fights, the braver one becomes. If we had not committed a few
mistakes of line [in the past, we] would not be this good today. If good things
abound, we will become conceited, and bad things will occur. That was what
happened in the Soviet Union. Wang Ming made serious mistakes; he did not make
a self-criticism and thus his prestige was destroyed.?3 If you make a mistake, you
are tense for a week; after making self-criticism, everything will be all right.
Furthermore, this criticism will also have an immunizing effect. I intended to
thoroughly attack Old Mr. Deng’s view on the [formation of] cooperatives.24
Attacking is the way to help a cadre. At worst I will lose a vote, and [the person
whom I have attacked] will not want to nominate me.

Ba Jin says that it is difficult to write essays.25 First of all, after the Communist
Party has completed its rectification there will be an atmosphere of freedom; [and]
secondly, one who is a materialist through and through is fearless. Wang Xifeng
Says, He who is not afraid of death by a thousand mutilations dares to pull the
“mperor from his horse.26 The more a person is in difficulty, [the more] we should
help him. Refusing to help is unjustifiable.

What is wrong with building an athletic field at Lu Xun’s gravesite?27 Chen


518 {/ MAO ZEDONG

been changed, and they no longer have a social base. In the past, intellectuals
entrusted themselves to feudalism, capitalism, and the system of individual production. Intellectuals served the class from which they came. The class from which
they came has now been destroyed, so they are suspended in midair; their feet are
not on solid ground. Now they are clinging to our body. Through the Communist
Party, the workers and peasants let them work and earn a living. We shall still have
to spend more than ten years cleansing [their] brains, and the method |we use] is
unity-criticism-unity.!3 They don’t want to be subjected to criticism, but they can’t
bring themselves to say so. Right now there are over ten million people suspended
in midair; their brains are old[-fashioned]. This is nothing to be afraid of. Suspended
in midair, they very much need us to reach out and draw them in. If we stretch out
our arms warmly toward them, [we can draw them over] somewhat faster. [However,| it will not be such a simple matter to get the majority over. Those who
welcome change the most are the proletariat. The peasants’ greatest hope ts for
changes to occur with regard to Chiang Kai-shek, the U.S. imperialists, and the
landlords, but they do not wish for change in the small-scale, private ownership
system. The democratic parties and intellectuals, when they see the all-too-sudden
and rapid advent of a cultural revolution, may also change. The hair and the skin
have been separated, but the spirit is still lodged in the original hide. The hair is
stuck to the body of the proletariat; their spirits are often ill at ease.!4 If they were
not changing they would not be ill at ease. Not being at ease is a sign of change.
Some intellectuals’ world views cannot be transformed even over a long period. . . .
To test the world views of writers is to see if they can become one with the workers
and peasants, or if they remain separated from them. [Some, when they are] sent
to the countryside,!> cannot speak truthfully to the peasants. The world view of
bureaucratists within the Party also poses a problem, [namely,] they are divorced
from the masses. They support Marxism, and yet they are completely at odds with
the masses; what kind of Marxism is that? There is a group of people in society
whose only worry is that there is no chaos in the land. They harbour anti-Communist thought, and they advocate fighting their way out. It will take decades to reform
them. Some will remain unreformed even when they die, but the majority can be
reformed. There are some who are old diehards who will remain unreformed until
death.

2. [We] must relax controls. To be afraid of relaxing controls suggests that we
have no adequately stated our reasons or that we have not convinced jpeople]. This
iS an antibureaucratism [campaign] with leadership.!6 Whenever speaking out is
not allowed and there is no preparation whatsoever [for it], the result, [ironically, ]
will be a massive outburst of views.!/ We are for allowing people to speak out, The
worst that can happen is nothing more than some temporary disturbance. [We] work
for the people, and yet the people are not satisfied. Some people can’t understand
this and become very distressed. There will always be dissatisfied people. Some
people are satisfied and others are not. When people compare things with the past,
some are quite satisfied; they will still be dissatisfied when they compare things
with [what could be in] the future, or when they compare [themselves] with those
who are at present better off. This sort of situation will remain even after ten


thousand years. If everybody were satisfied we might as well just go to sleep. We
have not even allowed people to speak up yet, so how do we know there will be
disturbances? In the class struggle of the past we were extreme in our vigilance;
now [let us] deviate a bit toward the Right. The solitary airing of a single school’s
[view]'8 has dominated for many years; now let there be some turmoil and we’]I
see what happens. It is not good to let obvious mistakes go uncriticized for a long
period of time. When there is too much grass once can use a tractor. Chiang
Kai-shek was not grass; [we had him] beaten in three years. Ten per cent of China’s
intellectuals understand Marxism, 80 per cent are patriotic and support socialism. !9
One can see that poisonous weeds are only the minority.2° Those that look
poisonous but are not, and those that are in between—that is, between wild weeds
and fresh flowers—are the majority. This is a reflection of social reality.

This problem is a new one; the cadres have not yet experienced it. [Let’s] try it,
and see what it’s like, and if we acquire a taste for it, then there will be no more
worries. Even if it is not explained clearly, will the people continue to oppose the
Communist Party? The majority [may] look poisonous but are not. Poisonous
weeds are the minority.

I am not encouraging people to make trouble, [nor am I] running a conference
to promote troublemaking. Troublemaking such as attacking [government] offices
must be punished. [Nevertheless,] some disorder is inevitable. Right now, people
outside the Party are in high spirits. After a time the spirits of those inside the Party
will also rise; [spirits] are low at first, but then they will rise.2!

By solving some problems, we gained some experience. Every principle and
policy of the Party must be taken to the masses to be tested.22 We should let the
cadres go and test [things out] in their work.

Being afraid on the one hand and fearless on the other, being happy on the one
hand and unhappy on the other, having solved the problems and not having solved
them this is dialectics. It is like waging war; in the beginning one is apprehensive,
but the more one fights, the braver one becomes. If we had not committed a few
mistakes of line [in the past, we] would not be this good today. If good things
abound, we will become conceited, and bad things will occur. That was what
happened in the Soviet Union. Wang Ming made serious mistakes; he did not make
a self-criticism and thus his prestige was destroyed.23 If you make a mistake, you
are tense for a week; after making self-criticism, everything will be all right.
Furthermore, this criticism will also have an immunizing effect. I intended to
thoroughly attack Old Mr. Deng’s view on the [formation of] cooperatives.24
Attacking is the way to help a cadre. At worst I will lose a vote, and [the person
whom I have attacked] will not want to nominate me.

Ba Jin says that it is difficult to write essays.2> First of all, after the Communist
Party has completed its rectification there will be an atmosphere of freedom; [and]
secondly, one who is a materialist through and through is fearless. Wang Xifeng
says, He who is not afraid of death by a thousand mutilations dares to pull the
emperor from his horse.2© The more a person is in difficulty, [the more] we should
help him. Refusing to help is unjustifiable.

What is wrong with building an athletic field at Lu Xun’s gravesite?2? Chen


Qitong and Zhong Dianfei28 represent two one-sided views. I too am one who does
not worry about one-sided views. . . .29 This could be transformed into a cyclical
theory, but dialectics is not a cyclical theory.

Excessive one-sidedness will prompt the emergence of dialectics. These people
want nothing other than for us to have bad luck; so let us anticipate an even worse
situation. At present it seems that we have become somewhat Rightist, but we must
persuade the masses not to use [over]simplified methods that do not thoroughly
solve the [problem of the] disturbances. It will not do to take excessive measures
in settling things. Who says that we wanted demons and ogres? The masses want
to see [them]. We cannot suppress them; we can only put on more good shows. We
should let [our] society be a little more complex, and put the emphasis on science.°°
Some people say that if we expelled the troublemaking students we would be even
more vicious than the Kuomintang. We ought to be smarter than the Kuomintang.
It is good that we have a Kuomintang for comparison. They are digging [their own]
graves; we should not follow the example of the Kuomintang. To this day I still
feel bad because the Guangdong students were prevented from coming to the
capital with their petitions.3! The Kuomintang exercised dictatorship over the
people. The Communist Party believes in democracy. This point should be clear.
Some people use dictatorship as an atom bomb to wave it over the people’s heads
[to threaten them]. This is bad.

3. Let a hundred flowers bloom, and let a hundred schools of thought contend.
We must change the relationship between the Party and the intellectuals. some
people think it is not yet time [for blooming and contending]; they contradict [our]
political and ideological work. Large-scale political struggle has already basically
come to an end.32 The Eighth Congress has drawn a conclusion.*3 Now is precisely
the time to bring up this policy.

Between the Party and the non-Party [people] there is a very deep chasm. I think
it is not good to say that there is no chasm, no line of demarcation; however, [it]
should not become an abyss. To have an abyss means being divorced from the
masses.

One out of every thousand factories in Shanghai has had disturbances, it was
not one out of every ten thousand.34 It would be better [to have disturbances] in
one out of every hundred, for them bureaucratism could be wiped out.

[If we spread the contending and blooming] from inside the Party to outside the
Party—and have those inside the Party and those outside the Party discussing things
together—then the [curtain] will go up on the opera.*> In this way many people
will be pushed onto the political stage.3°

Whose newspaper is Renmin ribao?>’ It needs rectifying.

Some people feel that [since] it won’t do to be either Left or Right, it is difficult
to do anything. To know that it is difficult to do things is good [because] it makes
people use their brains. Otherwise there will be only talk of dictatorship and
centralization (in other words, suppression).

Should there be struggle within the Party? Of course there should be struggle.
The peasants hoe weeds year after year. Our criticism of errors must be carried out
persuasively and not just by exerting pressure. It will not do to rely on a few articles.

—_"


We must convince people with reason, not by relying on our qualifications.

Toward the enemy we use force; toward the people we use reason. To be without
reason is to be nonhistoricist. It will not do to rely on position, no matter how high
they are. We must study more and do more research. It is very dangerous for cadres
to pull rank and be authoritarian.

Can we do without the democratic parties? No. The Soviet Union does not have
them, and [therefore] contrary opinions cannot be heard. However, [the Soviet
Union] did win the war, and they did not kill the intellectuals. The Soviet Union
does not want to have a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought
contend. Democratic party [people] are all big intellectuals; the Peasant- Worker
Democratic Party does not have peasants and workers.*8 They must be given some
work to do.

Unite with both ends and criticize the middle. Not to have criticism is a Right
deviation. Zhong Dianfei’s essay has been published for a long time and there is
[yet] no criticism of it. |

The criticism in Wenhui bao must be comprehensively analyzed.3? These
criticisms are beneficial [to us].

We must speak the truth to people of the democratic parties. If they have
shortcomings, tell them. Belonging to the democratic parties has its difficulties.
One hears and sees nothing; nor can one tell what cards the Communist Party
intends to play. [We] can also talk about some of the Party’s shortcomings. If we
strike down the democratic personages, they will rise up to oppose us. It is necessary
to learn [from them] with modesty.

Many meetings have been held, but no news of them has appeared. [Is it] the
Renmin ribao or is it Guomin ribao?

Chen Qitong {claims to] represent 90 per cent of the comrades within the Party,
so therefore I have no mass base.

There should be a line between the Party and people outside the Party, but there
should not be a wall. First secretaries should regularly receive personages outside
the Party and show them our cards. [People say that we are] leading the enemy
deep into an [ambush];4! [they should be] allowed to say that. If we don’t let this
be said, we are [accused of] not being democratic. But if we do, [we are accused
of] leading the enemy in deep. [So] what should we do? We should take [our
concern for] 600 million people as the point of departure, and we must be more
ambitious. There are five million intellectuals; we must win them over. Mo Po is
a sectarianist.42 He has to be handed over and investigated. We should investigate
his Party membership registration. Why [does he] reject traditional Chinese painting? He is promoting ugly arts, not fine arts. [Even] the Kuomintang had traditional
paintings. With what party is he [affiliated]? Probably a third party! Social reality
cannot be denied. [If] there is counterrevolution in social reality, we must suppress
it. Problems have long existed within the scope of democracy. How can the
Stanislavsky method be applied to [the performance of] Huoshao hongliansi |The
Burning of Red Lotus Temple}*3 [If] Jiang Feng and Mo Po practice dialectics,
why do they reject traditional Chinese painting, and engage only in going-italone?44 Even a husband and a wife should be properly matched!4> Veteran cadres

522 {/ MAO ZEDONG

must consider this: In the past we used a set of methods, but now we are dealing
with internal problems among the people.46 I have read several issues of the Xin
min bao*' It is not yellow journalism, [but] it is a bit soft. [It] can not provide
leadership in science; but we must not reject it outright. We have to seek advice;
even Liu Bei had to seek [the advice of] a Zhuge Liang.*® Personages outside the
Party talk [only] after careful deliberation. Sometimes they are wrong, [but] we
must not reject them outright and reach a point of no return [in what we say].

4. On the issue of recognizing certain problems: There are over two hundred
letters opposing the article written by Fan Ruizhuan. I don’t see any decadence in
the article. If Shang gan ling [Shang-gan ridge] is to be played every day, and she’s
separated from her husband, what is she to do?49 To write essays, you have to have
somebody pressure you, just as donkeys have to be ridden to get anywhere. The
five conditions are leadership, selective reporting, preparations, persuasiveness,
and benefit. Of all these conditions, only persuasiveness is relatively concrete. The
others are quite difficult to change; but [in doing so we] must not be dogmatic.

Can we debate Party policies? Everyone says that articles published in Renmin
ribao are correct, [but] the article by Chen Qitong and others is not correct. In my
opinion it would be better if each province ran two newspapers, one run [by people]
outside the Party, [so that there can be] rival performances.5°

Wherever intellectuals gather in large numbers, there are bound to be some
matters that are hard to handle; but it is impossible [for them] not to congregate.
Of the six million people in Shanghai, only two hundred or more X X are in
opposition;>! [they are] obviously a minority. Newspapers should not give encouragement every day either. Several meetings should be convened each year, in the
spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Cultural and educational undertakings are for
educating the people; they have to be supervised regularly; we cannot simply treat
the head when there is a headache and treat the foot when the foot hurts.52 Some
people in the motion picture studios say that they will strive to bring forth fragrant
flowers and not produce poisonous weeds. This spirit is not correct. We are not
afraid of producing one-third poisonous weeds. [To speak of] avoiding poisonous
weeds is an empty phrase.

One-sidedness: It will never be possible, not even in ten thousand years, to
[fulfill the] condition that all people outside the Party avoid one-sidedness and
become experts in dialectics. Last time when I spoke, I began by [examining]
myself. There will always be work that is well done and work that is not.

The question of intellectuals joining the Party: We should strive to have
one-third [of the intellectuals] come into the Party. Members of the democratic
parties may have concurrent membership [in our Party], but their leadership
personnel should not join [our] Party. Within six years, we aim to have one-fourth
[of the intellectuals] join [our] Party, and by the Third Five-Year Plan [period],°3
one-third. We must proceed with steady steps and try to get 15 per cent into the
Party this year. If we don’t win over a group of intellectuals into our Party this year
it will not be good for socialism. Letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred
schools of thought contend is a policy for winning over the intellectuals. If we
[then] bar them from our organization, it will not be compatible [with this policy].

Lt
Conference. See text Mar. 12, 1957, for information on the National Conference on
Propaganda Work of the CPC.

2. On the term contending, see text Autumn 1956, note I.

3. See texts Mar. 18, 1957, and Mar. 19, 1957.

4. Here the Chinese simply has one character, fang, in parentheses. The meanings of
the word are manifold, but all are interrelated. The character is the one for blooming, as in
‘Tet a hundred flowers bloom” (see texts Autumn 1956, and speeches of January and
February 1957), and for “letting go” or “giving free rein” (see text Mar. 12, 1957, paragraph
14, and text Apr. 10, 1957, paragraph | and note | as well as the title). Here the appearance
of this single character seems to carry forward the idea introduced in the March 12 and April
10 texts, and we have therefore translated it as “relaxing controls,” or “letting go.” What
Mao seems to be saying is: “Letting go, that is also what blooming, as in ‘let a hundred
flowers bloom’ means.” See also text Mar, 12, 1957, paragraphs 15-17.

5. See text Sept. 21, 1949, vol. I, note 1.

6. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 54.

7. See text Mar. 19, 1957, notes 4 and 5.

8. This rather simple statement here appears to reflect a critical turning point in the
development of the Hundred Flowers campaign, that is, from the policy of liberalization
toward the Anti-Rightist campaign of retrenchment. Mao appears to express the very
beginnings of reservations about the blooming and contending, but these reservations would
not be full force and hardened until about two and a half months later. Mao here is using the
weather metaphor, hinting that the actions and methods of the intellectuals (especially,
perhaps, the bourgeois intellectuals) in response to the CPC policy are quite improper.
Whereas the CPC method had been, in Mao’s view anyway, “gentle winds and fine rain”
(see text Feb. 27, 1957, note 43), the intellectuals had reacted with a “torrential downpour”
of criticism.

9. This is a common saying referring to the patience and devious plotting of the
fisherman, or of anybody setting a trap.

10. This is an aphorism, feng chui cao dong, that means “the slightest suspicion-rousing
action.” It is derived from the twenty-third ui of the novel Shuthu zhuan, and from volume
23 of Paian jinggi (Tales of Desk-Thumping Astonishment).

11. This aphorism, jing gong zhi niao, is derived from “Wang Jian zhuan” (The
Biography of Wang Jian) in Jin shu (the History of the Jin Dynasty) and refers to the acute
sensitivity and heightened vigilance of people who had previously suffered injury. It is
approximate to the English saying,” once bitten, twice shy.”

12. See text Aug. 12, 1953(1), vol. I, note 25.

13. See text Feb. 27, 1957, note 22.

14. This is an allusion to the classical saying “pi zhi bu cun, mao jiang yan fu” (if the
skin no longer exists, to what should the hair adhere?). This saying is derived from the
segment on the fourteenth year of the reign of Duke Xi of the state of Lu in Zuo zhuan (the
Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals). In the original context, there was a
famine in the state of Qin, and the government there attempted to borrow grain from the state
of Jin. An officer of Jin, Guo Xie, opposed the loan, using the aphorism as his argument.
Guo was referring to the fact that in the past, Jin had promised to cede five towns to the state
of Qin but had failed to carry out the promise. Therefore friendly relations between the two
states no longer existed as a base, and it would be useless for the state of Jin to try to mend
the fence by lending grain to the state of Qin. Mao, here and in other writings, refers to the
hair as the individuals in society and to the skin, or skins, as social class structures or modes
of production. In the case of the intellectuals, Mao argues, they are hair with no skin of their
own; in other words, they must adhere to the skin of some other class in society in order to


have their own social existence. In the past, Mao asserts, the intellectuals had adhered to five
other skins, including that of the bourgeoisie, the feudal authority, and the imperialists.
However, since the revolution and the removal, or at least erosion, of the bourgeoisie, the
intellectuals had to jump ship and turn around to adhere to the skin of the proletariat.
However, Mao also argues that the intellectuals are often unhappy with the new skin, and
while physically they adhere to the body of the proletariat, their souls lie elsewhere. See text
July 8, 1957, text surrounding note 44. See also text Feb. 27, 1957, note 88.

15. See text Feb. 27, 1957, note 102.

16. Mao is referring to the Party rectification campaign in process at this very time.

17. Here Mao seems to be introducing another dimension of the meanings of ihe word
fang (see note 4), which conveys the idea of “airing,” or “speaking out.” Hence our
differences in translation of the same word in consecutive sentences.

18. Mao’s words here, yi jia du ming, play off the slogan bat jia zheng ming, which
means have a hundred schools contend. See text Jan. 1957, point 9, last paragraph.

19. See text Mar. 12, 1957, note 6. |

20. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 38.

21. The Wansui (n.d. 3) source has xian gao hou gao (it.: first it is high, and then tt is
high.) Although this may be interpreted as “[spirits] are high to begin with and then they got
even higher,” we believe such a translation would be dubious. Instead, we think the Wansui
(n.d. 3) version quite possibly contains a typographical error.

22. See text May 15, 1951, vol. I, note 7.

23. See text Aug. 12, 1953, vol. I, note 23. See also text Feb. 27, 1957, note 23.

24. This refers to Deng Zihui; see text Oct. 11, 1955(1), vol. I, notes 21 and 42.

25. Ba Jin was the non de plume of Li Feigan (b. 1904), an anarchist writer perhaps
most famous for the novels Jia (Family), Chun (Spring), Qiu (Autumn), and J? fiu (The
Torrent), and many short stories he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s. He was vice-chairman
of the Union of Chinese Writers and a member of the presidium of the All-China
Federation of Art and Literary Circles. For more biographical information on Li, see H.
Boorman et al., eds. (1970), II pp. 297-299. For the meaning of the term “za wen”
(miscellaneous short essays), translated here simply as essays, see text Mar. 12, 1957,
notes 26 and 27.

26. See text Mar. 12, 1957, note 25. See also surrounding text.

27. For more information on Lu Xun, see text Apr. 25, 1956, note 15. Mao is referring
to anew tomb which had been built for Lu Xun in July-September 1956 at Hongkou Park,
Shanghai. Mao had written an inscription for this new tomb, released in Nanfang ribao on
July 23, 1956.

28. For Chen Qitong, see text Apr. 10, 1957, note 2. Zhong Dianfei was a screen writer
who had worked in the art and literature section of the Propaganda Department of the CPC
Central Committee. At this time he was transferred to the editorial board of Wenyi bao, where
he published an article, “Dianying di luogu’ (Gongs and Drums in the Cinema), Wenyi bao
23, (Dec. 15, 1956). This article attacked sectarianism and leadership by formula in the
cinematic arts and created a great stir. It was praised by Luo Longji and by the KMT writers
in Taiwan, and Zhong was subsequently criticized in August 1957.

29. The term here is pianmian wuyou lun, whose contextual meaning is unclear to us.
This last part of the paragraph, complete with the ellipses, is rather garbled and confusing.

30. We believe that Mao is talking not of technological science here, but rather of a
scientific way of looking at social issues.

31. See text Jan. 27, 1957(2), note 54.

32. See text Feb. 27, 1957, text surrounding note 43, 1.e., section 1, last paragraph.

33. See text Aug. 30, 1956, note 1.

34. See text Feb. 27, 1957, note 93.

35. The term here is xi jiu chang qi lai liao, which literally means “the singing of the
opera will begin.” What it means 1s that exciting things will be able to take place.

36. See text Feb. 27, 1957, note 20.


37. See text April 1957(1).

38. The Zhongguo nonggong minzhu dang (Chinese Peasant- Worker Democratic Party)
was one of the democratic parties in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
It was founded on September |, 1930, in Shanghai on the basis of the political grouping that
had been known variously as the Provisional Action Committee of the Chinese Nationalist
Party and Action Committee for Chinese National Liberation. It was originally under the
leadership of Deng Yanda, a politician and military strategist who participated in the
Northern Expedition. Deng was executed by the KMT on November 29, 1931, in Nanjing.
The leadership of the party then fell to Zhang Bojun and Peng Zemin. Its political advocation
centered on socialism, land reform, repulsion of imperialist influence, and democratic
government by way of general elections rather than by party representation.

39. For more information Wenhui bao and its criticism, see text July 1, 1957.

40. The meaning of the term guomin ribao here is rather vague. There was a Guomin
ribao (Citizen’s Daily) published by the KMT in Hong Kong, beginning in 1939, to muster
support for the War of Resistance and to popularize KMT policies. It was edited by Tao
Baiquan (and later, in 1940, by Chen Xunyu). However, we are unsure as to whether or not
Mao was referring to this paper (it is not likely that he was). He might also be using the term
sarcastically to refer simply to “guomin dang” newspapers, (1.e., newspapers edited by the
KMT). A third possibility is that he was referring to “Minguo ribao” instead of “Guoniun
ribao.”) A Minguo ribao began publication in 1916 in Shanghai and eventually, through the
late 1920s, gained national stature. It was a KMT paper. In 1932, it was suppressed by the
Japanese.

41. See note 9.

42. Weare unable to identify this artist or author. It is very likely that Mo Po was anom
de plume.

43. The Stanislavsky method of acting, named for its creator Konstantin Sergeevich
Stanislavsky, Russian actor and director, is a method of acting based on the tenet that if the
actor understands and psychologically justifies the physical action on stage prior to the
acting, it will render the action more realistic and less theatrical. It draws heavily from
Pavlov’s theories of behavior. Huoshao hongliansiis a popular Shanghai opera derived from
a story in Buddhist lore about the destruction of a temple of libertine monks.

44. The Wansui (n.d. 3) source has “Jiang Lai,” which we believe to be a typographical
error. Jiang Feng was a former principal of the Central Art Academy in Beijing. He was a
painter who opposed Party policy on art, which he, together with a group of colleagues in
the academy, attacked in 1957. He was criticized, along with writers such as Ding Ling, in
the anti-Rightist campaign.

45. The words Mao uses here are pei dui (literally, to fit into a pair). The language here,
together with the term “go-it-alone” earlier, is an echo of a passage in text Jan. 27, 1957(1)
(see text surrounding note 43).

46. See text Feb. 27, 1957, note 3.

47. The Xin min bao began publication in 1929 in Nanjing. The publishers were Chen
Mingde and Deng Jixing, a husband-wife team. During the War of Resistance period, it was
based in Chongqing and Chengdu. After the war, it was published in five places: Nanjing,
Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Beijing. Its main attraction was in its nonnews columns
and pages, which contained many literary pieces of the popular vein (e.g., serial novels by
writers such as Zhang Henshui and Zhang Huijian). It has never adopted much of a political
nature, although in 1948, because it carried news of the expansion of the Communist forces,
it was banned by the KMT government. In 1950, it was revived in Beijing.

The Wansui (n.d. 3) source as the phrase bu yao (lit.: do not want) instead of the verb to
be bu shi (not) in the Wansui (1969) version. We believe that the Wansui (n.d. 3) version Is
incorrect.

48. Liu Bei was the monarch of the state of Shu-Han (reigning A.D. 22 1—233), one of the
three Warring Kingdoms that existed for the brief period between the Han and Jin dynasties
(i.e., A.D. 220-280). Zhuge Liang, also known as Zhuge Kongming, or simply as Kong Ming,


528 {/ MAO ZEDONG

was probably the most famous military strategist of that period and one of the most famous
Chinese historical figures. He was a well-known scholar even before he became chief
minister to Liu Bei, but in spite of his fame among scholars he was pretty much of a hermit,
residing in Longzhong. Liu Bei went to visit him three times, and only on the third time did
Zhuge Liang submit the full range of his plans for the reorganization of the government and
the strengthening of the kingdom’s defenses to Liu Bei, whereupon Liu Bei invited him to
be his “‘secretary of state.” The story of the three visits was told in Zhuge Liang’s own later
memorial to Liu Bei’s successor, the essay known as Qian chushi biao (First Memorial on
Sending the Troops Off to War).

For more information on the times of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, see text June 30, 1953,
vol. I, note 3.

49. Fan Ruizhuan is an actress of the Shaoxing opera. Shang gan ling 1s an opera adapted
from a novel of the same name by Lu Zhuguo, about a battle in the Korean War-——an episode
that occurred at the place known to Americans as Heartbreak Ridge.

50. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 57.

51. We do not know what XX stands for.

52. This is acommon saying connoting piecemeal remedies that do not succeed in taking
care of the overall situation.

53. See text Nov. 11, 1956, note 4.

54. See text Apr. 25, 1956, note 14.

55. See text Nov. 12, 1956, source note. It is not altogether true that Sun did not receive
much education, although a great part of his education was acquired outside of school. He
was much better known as a political figure and as a revolutionary, for which he received
no specific formal education. He did receive more formal education than most of China’s
other chief political figures (certainly no less, and probably quite a bit more, than Mao). Sun
was educated in the medical profession, although he did not long remain a practitioner of
that trade.

56. Here Mao means not that the investigations went on for only those two years, but
rather that when the investigations were carried out, during those two years, they were
supposed to take into consideration only whether or not the subjects had been involved in
counterrevolutionary activities during that period, and not much earlier activities. For
information on this investigation campaign, see text Feb. 27, 1957, note 50.

57. Thomas D. Malthus (1766-1834), a British classical economist (see text Jan. 27,
1957(1), note 46). His main thesis regarding population was that population has a tendency
to grow at a much faster rate than the growth rate of the means of production and subsistence
(such as food production), and that this discrepancy leads to social conflict and war, which
are somewhat vain but temporarily effective ways of restoring equilibrium. See also text
Mar. 1, 1957, notes 18 and 30.

58. The Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China was adopted by the Seventh
Meeting of the Central People’s Government Council on April 13, 1950, and promulgated
on May 1, 1950. For translation in English see T. Chen (1967), pp. 270-274. See RMSC
(1951), section “Shen,” p. 1. Also see text June 30, 1953, vol. I, note 5.

59. While it appears quite clear that Mao is not pointing at any single person specifically,
but perhaps at the position of the first secretary of the Party generally, it is still useful to bear
in mind that the general secretary of the CPC at this ttme was Deng Xiaoping, a post to which
he was elected in September 1956 and which he held until April 1969. The director of the
Propaganda Department at this time was Lu Dingyi.
27—March 1, 1957, at which Mao delivered his “On Correctly Handling Contradictions
Among the People” speech. See text Feb. 27, 1957. K. Lieberthal (1976), p. 93, notes that
the RMRB picture of the rostrum at this conference (RMRB [Mar. 3, 1957]) did not include
a number of top-ranking cadres. Indeed, none of the major speeches made by Mao at this
conference was carried by the RMKB at the time. The RMRB carried only the much revised
version that appeared much later.


60. The expression da zhang luo gu (to bring out the gongs and the drums in a big way)
is acommon saying meaning doing things with fanfare, or a lot of noise. It was originally a
theatrical reference in that in traditional opera, when a scene involving some fanfare is
reached (such as when a major character 1s about to appear on stage or in a battle scene), the
accompanying music is likely to involve the use of the biggest gong and the loudest drum
(da luo da gu). Here Mao may be speaking with a somewhat sarcastic reference to the essay
by Zhong Dianfei in Wenyi bao (see note 27). See also text Oct. 13, 1957, note 9.


Notes

Notes

Interjections at the Hangzhou Conference
of the Shanghai Bureau

(April 1957)

Notes

1. See texts Feb. 27, 1957, and Mar. 1, 1957, for information on the Supreme State

--- Notes

1. See text Mar. 12, 1957, source note; see text Jan. 12, 1958(2), paragraph 7, for more
detailed explanation.

2. This most probably refers to the enlarged Supreme State Conference held February