Letter to Sun Yan
(December 17, 1957)


Comrade Peijun:!

I have received your letter. I agree with your view that you should not go to the
countryside. Your mother is already sixty and is no longer capable of labor;
naturally it would not be proper for her to be sent down.? You are yet young, and
your mother needs to be taken care of, so it is all right for you not to go. Nonetheless,
this matter should be decided by the Party. You may bring this letter, and together
with your mother, go to the United Front Department of the Hunan Provincial Party
Committee and discuss the matter with the comrades who are in charge there. Ask
them to make a decision. This letter of mine is merely a suggestion and does not
constitute a decision.

Please give my regards to your mother!

Mao Zedong
December 17, 1957

[P.S.] When you go to the United Front Department, you may bring up the
history of your mother’s taking care of Comrade Yang Kaihui,3 so as to let the
comrades there know better the truth of the circumstances.