Comments on the Report Criticizing Gao Fang
(September 25, 1957)

Comrades Qiao Mu and Leng Xi:
The criticism of Gao Fang is very well written. Please have it reprinted in the People’s Daily. In the future, such forceful and convincing critiques should be encouraged. At present, a large proportion of criticisms lack sufficient persuasiveness; they tend to promote exaggeration and are far from realistic. While the rightists indulge in exaggeration, those on the left should not do the same.
Mao Zedong
September 25th
[1] Refers to the report “Present the Facts, State the Reasons, Compare the Past with the Present—A Verbal Battle in the Industrial and Commercial Circles Against the Rightist Gao Fang,” published in the evening edition of the Xinmin Daily on September 22, 1957. On September 29, 1957, the People’s Daily reprinted it under the title “This Debate Was Conducted Very Well—An Account of the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Circles’ Rational Struggle Against the Rightist Element Gao Fang.” Gao Fang was then serving as the Deputy General Manager of the General Management Office of the Tongyi Textile Mill in Shanghai.
Qiao Mu refers to Hu Qiaomu, who at that time was an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong’s secretary. Leng Xi refers to Wu Lengxi, who was then the President of the Xinhua News Agency and the Editor-in-Chief of the People’s Daily.