Letter to Zhang Mingxia [1] (November 25, 1957)Comrade Zhang Mingxia: I received your letter long ago and apologize for my late reply!
The ci poem “Die Lian Hua” [2] may be published in your journal [3]. As for “You Xian,” please change its title to “A Gift to Li Shuyi.”
Wishing you all the best!Mao ZedongNovember 25, 1957Printed from the manuscript.Notes[1] Zhang Mingxia was then a student in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Hunan Normal College.[2] This refers to the ci poem “Die Lian Hua: In Reply to Li Shuyi.”
Mao Zedong wrote this poem on May 11, 1957, to Li Shuyi, who was at that time a Chinese language teacher at the Tenth Middle School in Changsha, Hunan Province.
Its original title was “Die Lian Hua: You Xian.”
In this letter to Zhang Mingxia, Mao changed “You Xian” to “A Gift to Li Shuyi.”
In the 1963 edition of “Poems and Lyrics by Mao Zedong” published by the People’s Literature Publishing House, the title was further revised to “Die Lian Hua: In Reply to Li Shuyi.”[3] Refers to “The Song of the Eagle.”
It was a mimeographed poetry magazine edited by the “October Poetry Society,” an organization composed of nine students from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Hunan Normal College, including Zhang Mingxia.
After copying Mao Zedong’s ci poem “Die Lian Hua” from Li Shuyi at the Tenth Middle School in Changsha, they wrote to Mao Zedong on June 1, 1957, requesting permission to publish it in “The Song of the Eagle.”
By the time Mao replied, “The Song of the Eagle” had already ceased publication.
The poem was first published on January 1, 1958, in the Hunan Normal College journal “Hunan Normal College,” under the title “Die Lian Hua: A Gift to Li Shuyi.”