Comments on the Report Regarding Pigskin Tanning
(November 13, 1958)
Comrades Shang Kun[1] and Xiaoping[2]:

(1) This document is very good and should be approved for circulation.

(2) People’s communes should vigorously develop light industry.[3]

Shang Kun,
i.e., Yang Shangkun, who at that time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.
Xiaoping,
i.e., Deng Xiaoping, who at that time held the post of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
Refers to the report submitted by the Party Group of the Ministry of Light Industry to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on November 7, 1958, advocating a vigorous expansion of pigskin tanning. The report stated that with the Great Leap Forward in industrial and agricultural production and the increasing export targets, there was a severe shortage of leather supplies for industrial, agricultural, and export footwear purposes. However, the production potential of the leather industry had not been fully realized, particularly in large coastal cities where leather factories were underutilized. The main reason was the prevailing belief in the superiority of cowhide, which confined the industry within a narrow framework. To achieve a major breakthrough in the leather industry, it was necessary to break free from this fixation on cowhide and significantly expand pigskin tanning. Some comrades hesitated to use pigskin, fearing that the public would be unaccustomed to consuming pork without its skin, believing pig leather inferior to cowhide, and worrying that producing pig leather would result in losses. These concerns reflected conservative thinking, as public habits could be gradually changed. For example, in Shandong Province, only the Changdao and Laiyang administrative areas originally had the custom of removing pig skins; however, thanks to strong leadership and active promotion, most other areas have since adopted this practice. As for lowering the price of pigskins, this too could be achieved through concerted efforts. Technically, pig leather can now be made not only smooth and even but also into rolled leather suitable for the textile industry and leather for clothing. In developing pigskin tanning, priority should be given to people’s communes, as the primary market for footwear in the future will be rural areas rather than cities.
Therefore, communes and counties alike can establish raw hide processing plants, tanneries, and shoe factories, enabling the leather and footwear industries to surge forward and flourish nationwide.

What about Document Ill (i.e., the one distributed at the Zhengzhou Conference)? Has it been approved for circulation?
(3) The issue of provincial-level training courses combining Western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine has been dragging on for far too long. A brief comment of about one hundred words, supposedly to be drafted by the Ministry of Health, seems unlikely to materialize. It would be better to write it ourselves—taking just thirty minutes—and then see what happens.
Mao Zedong
8:00 a.m., November 13, in Zhengzhou

Refers to the report submitted by the Party Group of the Ministry of Light Industry to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on October 30, 1958, concerning the vigorous development of industry in people’s communes.
On September 25, 1958, the Party Group of the Ministry of Health submitted a summary report to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee regarding the organization of detached study classes for Western-trained physicians to learn traditional Chinese medicine. On October 11, 1958, Mao Zedong wrote his instructions on the report. On November 18, 1958, the CPC Central Committee forwarded the Ministry of Health’s report to the Shanghai Bureau and to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.