A LETTER TO CHOU SHIH-CHAO [0719 0013 6856]
(25 November 1958)
Dear Tun-yuan [1908 0337];
I received your letter of 17 October and was happy to read it.
When undertaking a new duty, one must not choose the light and shun
the heavy, but must choose the heavy and scorn the light. The ancients
said: The virtuous and the able: it is impossible to combine the two into
one. I feel that the two can be combined into one in you. Years and months,
days and hours, you feel that your ability is not up to par. Actually, the
reasons are first, you do not know yourself, and secondly, you do not under
stand objective matters. Those returned overseas students and big professors,
with their confused personal relationships and complicated psychology, hold
you in contempt, not in so many words, but by innuendoes. All these are
common occurrences in society which almost everyone has to experience. Be
yond this there is one's own lack of political-economic experience and the
fear when confronted with decisions. These are good; they are all facts and
understandable. I feel that [your] intelligence and honesty are adequate
to resolve all difficulties. It seems that I have discussed this point with
you before. Intelligence means asking many questions and thinking a lot;
honesty entails seeking the truth through facts. Practicing them constantly
and regularly will make one more successful. Your courage seems to have
greatly increased. After not having seen a person for three days, one must
look at him with new eyes. My rambling is merely to add some oil and put in
a dash of vinegar.
"Covering 80,000 li a day when sitting on the ground." Chiang Chu-ju
[5592 4554 1172] was wrong in his statement. There is a numerical basis.
The diameter of the earth is approximately 12,500 kilometers. Multiplied
by 3.1416, it becomes 40,000 kilometers, or 80,000 li. This is the mileage
of the earth's revolution (one day's time). One must pay to ride a train,
ship, or bus. It is called travelling. But no fare is required (no purchase
of a ticket required) when sitting on the earth and covering 80,000 li.

Is this travelling?! One is constrained by customs and habits, and one's
superstition is not eliminated. . It is nothing but daily life, yet many peo
ple find it odd. Patrolling the skies, our solar system (including the
earth) threads back and forth in the Silver River [Milky Way] every day and
every hour. What is the Silver River? It is without limit; "1,000" merely
indicates infinity. Mankind merely "patrols" in a river, but what he sees
is infinite. The Herd-boy, the men of Chin, schistosomiasis, dropsy, commonly
known as bloat, the dynasties of Chou, Ch'in, and Han
all are recorded in
books many times. The Herd-boy is naturally concerned about his fellow
villagers. One must ask the God of Plagues how things are. The Ursa Major,
commonly known as the Herd-boy Star (do I remember it wrong?) belongs to
the Silver River system. Please convey my explanations to Chu-ju. Any
dissent can be argued. As I may not be in Peking in November we probably
will not see each other.