On Reprinting
Comments on “Comrade Mao Zedong’s Discussion of How Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers”
and Amendments to the Editor’s Note in the People’s Daily
(October 1958)
Comrade Wu Lengxi:
This article can be reprinted. The issue at hand is a major one worldwide, yet many people have always found it difficult to resolve. The editorial department of World Knowledge has compiled my writings from various periods that expound this viewpoint into what appears to be a new essay. It might well be reprinted and broadcast. I suggest translating it anew into three or four foreign languages for publication as a small booklet, and also issuing a Chinese-language booklet. What do you think? Please discuss this with Comrade Lu Dingyi and see whether he agrees. As for the editor’s note in World Knowledge, we could either print it as is or draft a new one.
[1]
Wu Lengxi,
at that time President of the Xinhua News Agency and Editor-in-Chief of the People’s Daily.
[2]
Refers to the October 20, 1958 reprint in the Guangming Daily of an excerpt from World Knowledge titled “Chairman Mao on How Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers.”
On October 31, 1958, when the People’s Daily reprinted it, additional materials were included, certain layout adjustments were made, and the title was changed to “Comrade Mao Zedong’s Discussion of How Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers.”
[3]
Lu Dingyi, at that time an alternate member of the CPC Central Political Bureau, head of the Central Cultural and Educational Leading Group, and Minister of the CPC Central Propaganda Department.

Regarding the comments on reprinting “Comrade Mao Zedong’s Discussion of How Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers” and the revisions to the editor’s note, leave it to your discretion.
Mao Zedong
Although most of these articles, speeches, and conversations have already been published—only a small number remaining unpublished—and although they span a period of twenty years, presenting them in collected form nevertheless gives the impression of a fresh, comprehensive political treatise. The reason lies in the fundamental contradiction between imperialism and its lackeys on one side, and the peoples of all countries on the other, a contradiction that remains unresolved. Moreover, U.S. imperialism has recently been particularly belligerent, threatening world peace with atomic war. This tense situation captures the attention of oppressed and threatened peoples, who urgently seek to resolve this contradiction. Consequently, readers naturally take a keen interest in Comrade Mao Zedong’s discussion of one of the most basic and crucial questions in addressing this conflict: namely, whether the enemy is truly a paper tiger or not.

Editor’s Note:
At the time, population surveys were inaccurate; it was believed that China’s total population stood at only 450 million. Following liberation, more precise investigations revealed that China’s population actually numbered 600 million.
)2)
[1]
This is a passage added by Mao Zedong while reviewing the draft of the People’s Daily editorial note prepared for the reprint of “Comrade Mao Zedong’s Discussion of How Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers.”
[2]
In this editor’s note, Mao Zedong appended the following remarks after the excerpt from his report “The Current Situation and Our Tasks,” delivered at a meeting of the CPC Central Committee on December 25, 1947, which reads: “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army had already grown quite weary during the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, and moreover, the liberated areas of China at that time contained just over ten million people.”