Letter to Zhang Chuangtian [1]
(May 8, 1958)
Comrade Luo Fu:
I have read all three reports [21; the third one, No. 131, is the best. You have come around, and I express my warmest
welcome and congratulations. I have never been entirely satisfied with you. Back in Yan’an, I once offered you a five-character critique—do you recall? After we entered the cities, I told Chen Yun and Zhou Enlai on several occasions that you were excessively bookish and lacked a grasp of practical matters. I seem to remember even saying so to you directly. But today, after reading this report, I feel very warmly toward you. Though your four-month field trip was only a quick overview, your suggestions are entirely correct. Let the comrades in the Foreign Ministry implement them in turn. As for my earlier views about you—perhaps they were not entirely accurate, or perhaps I had overestimated you—certainly, that air of bookishness and privileged upbringing has not yet been completely shed, nor have you fully become grounded in reality. If that is indeed the case, there is no cause for concern; you simply need to continue making progress. But could you, in the past, have written a report like this? Could you have expressed such proletarian sentiments? Could you have created such a moving atmosphere? In my view, the answer is no. Now, however, you have achieved all of this—you have opened up, you have become more attuned to the masses—and so I offer you my congratulations!
Mao Zedong
May 8, 1958, 3:00 a.m.

--- Notes

[1]
Zhang Chuangtian, also known as Luo Fu, was at that time an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
[2]
Refers to three reports submitted by Zhang Chuangtian in mid-to-late April 1958 to Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi, with copy to Mao Zedong, namely:
On April 13, 1958, a report on discussions with Qi Weili, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Trade Bureau, concerning foreign trade work and other issues;
On April 25, 1958, a report proposing a change in the policy of retaining foreign merchants merely as a decorative element;
On April 26, 1958, a report on the conditions of certain factories and cooperatives in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
[3]
Refers to Zhang Wentian’s report dated April 26, 1958, addressed to Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi, with copy to Mao Zedong. The report states: During my recent visit to Shanghai and Hangzhou, I inspected several factories and agricultural cooperatives. My most profound impression was that the policies adopted by the Central Committee—namely, the nationwide rectification campaign, the Anti-Rightist Struggle, and the recent Double-Strike Movement—have yielded extraordinarily fruitful results. The Forty Articles on Agricultural Development, the slogan of surpassing Britain in industrial output, and the principle of building socialism with greater speed, higher quality, more economy, and greater efficiency have all taken deep root in the hearts of the people, transforming into an immensely powerful material force. Everywhere one looks, workers are laboring and carrying out their tasks with great enthusiasm and unwavering confidence. Our cadres, too, are fundamentally improving their methods and styles of leadership by cultivating experimental fields and engaging in shadowing labor alongside the masses, thereby significantly strengthening their ties with the general public. In short, age-old conventions and habits have been broken, the people’s mental outlook has undergone a fundamental transformation, and a vigorous revolutionary spirit is now evident everywhere. Our nation truly holds great promise and an unlimited future. Although my stay this time was brief—a mere cursory inspection—it nonetheless added considerably to my knowledge, giving me a much deeper understanding than before of the development of domestic industry and agriculture and of the progress being made by the masses. The report further recommends that regular engagement with the realities of the country and with the people should be established as an important task in the work of Foreign Ministry personnel.