Letter to Liu Shaoqi on the Question of Whether Ancient Officials Were Prohibited from Bringing Their Families with Them

(February 10, 1958)

Comrade Shaoqi:

Some time ago, I read a collection of anecdotal writings or some other poetic commentary that mentioned something about He Zhizhang. Today, while casually leafing through the *Complete Tang Dynasty Poetic Anecdotes*, I found a more detailed account of He’s story, which is worth a look. He resigned from his post in Chang’an and returned to Kuaiji (Shaoxing) at the age of eighty-six; it is likely that his wife had already passed away long before. His son was appointed as the military administrator of Kuaiji, and he too may have been sixty or seventy by then. “The children see me but do not know me” — these “children,” I believe, are not his own sons and daughters, but rather his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or even great-great-grandchildren, or perhaps children from other households. He Zhizhang served for several decades in Chang’an as an official, holding posts such as tutor to the crown prince, and enjoyed a relationship with Emperor Minghuang that was both sovereign-ministerial and friendly. He once recommended Li Bai to Emperor Minghuang, which shows they were on good terms. Having spent several decades in Chang’an, it is impossible that he had no family with him. This is my view. It is possible that his wife died in middle age, leaving him to live alone. He was a follower of Daoism, and it is also possible that he renounced family ties. But for someone who lived to such an advanced age, like Qi Baishi, who was over ninety, it is unimaginable that he would have no relatives living with him. He was a poet and also a calligrapher (his cursive-script *Classic of Filial Piety* survives to this day). He was a man of broad and free spirit, not a puritanical figure. In the Tang dynasty, there is no record of officials being prohibited from bringing their families with them, nor is there any such record in the entirety of history. Therefore, the poem “Leaving Home Young” cannot be taken as sufficient proof to conclude that ancient officials were forbidden to bring their families. Ever since I heard you discuss this matter that time, I have felt that something was not quite right. Please look into it further. Perhaps you are correct, and my thinking is wrong. Unable to sleep, I happened to think of this matter, so I wrote these lines for your reference.

Mao Zedong

10 a.m., February 10, 1958

Upon further checking the *Biography of He Zhizhang* in the “Literary Garden” section of the *Old Book of Tang* (*Old Book of Tang*, Biographies, Vol. 140, p. 24), there is also no record of a prohibition against bringing one’s family. In recent years, some annotators of literary anthologies have claimed that the “children” in the poem refer to He’s own sons and daughters, but this is pure speculation with no solid evidence whatsoever.

Published based on the manuscript. Included in the *Selected Letters of Mao Zedong*.

**Notes**

[1] “Leaving home young, returning old” — This is a line from He Zhizhang’s poem “Impromptu Lines on Returning Home.” The full poem reads: “Leaving home young, returning old, / My accent unchanged, my hair grown thin. / The children see me but do not know me, / Smiling, they ask: ‘Sir, where do you come from?’” The poem “Leaving Home Young” mentioned in the letter refers to this poem.

[2] Li Bai, a poet of the Tang dynasty.

[3] Qi Baishi, a painter who, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, served as Honorary Director of the Beijing Academy of Chinese Painting and Chairman of the China Artists Association. He had already passed away by this time.