Inscription for Hongxiannü
(December 1, 1958)

In 1957, some people in Hong Kong reviled Hongxiannü. I read this with pleasure. Among them was Huang He. What he was reviling was himself; he said he was going to perish. Sure enough, he has since been swept away from this earth, vanished. The so-called Huang He is no more. Meanwhile Hongxiannü lives, lives on, lives still more, and has become a Hongxiannü of the working people. In 1958, at Wuchang, Comrade Hongxiannü said to me: “Write a few words for me, I hope you will.” I said: “Very well.” Thus I wrote the following.

Mao Zedong
December 1, 1958

Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers,
Head bowed, like a willing ox I serve the children.
—Lu Xun

Hongxiannü, original name Kuang Jianlian, is a Cantonese opera artist. After victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan she went to Hong Kong. At the end of 1955 she returned to Guangzhou and joined the Guangdong Provincial Cantonese Opera Troupe.