Some People In The World Are Afraid Of Ghosts And Some Are Not

Date: 1959-05-06
Source: en:FLP-Diplomacy
SOME PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE AFRAID
OF GHOSTS AND SOME ARE NOT*
{May 6, 1959)
Some people in the world are afraid of ghosts and some are not. Which
is better: to fear ghosts or not to fear ghosts? There are stories of not fearing
ghosts in Chinese novels. I think it is the same in yours. I intend to compile
a book of stories of not fearing ghosts. Experience proves that we should not
fear them. The more you fear them, the more they will appear; if you don't
fear them, there will be no ghosts at all. There is a story about an unruly
scholar. One night he was sitting in his house when a ghost outside put his
head through the window. The ghost, sticking out his tongue, looked very
ugly. Its head was so big and its tongue so long. What did that unruly scholar
do? He smeared black ink on his face like the ghost and also stuck out his
tongue, staring at the ghost for one hour, two hours, three hours, until finally
the ghost went away.
There are quite a lot of ghosts in the world today. There is a whole flock
of ghosts in the Western world; they are the imperialists. There is also a flock
of ghosts in Asia, Africa and Latin-America, who are imperialist running dogs
and reactionaries.
Who is Nehru? He is a middle-of-the-roader of the Indian bourgeoisie,
different from the Rightists. The overall situation in India is good, I think.
There are 400 million people there, and Nehru cannot ignore their will. The
Tibet question has become a major issue. There will be a tremendous disturb
ance which will last for a while, say, half a year, or better, one year. It is a
pity that India dare not go on. Our tactic is to let the working people of Asia,
Africa and Latin America learn something from this and the Communist
parties of these countries learn how not to fear ghosts.
(From a Foreign Ministry document finalized by Mao Zedong)
* This is the major part of Mao Zedong's conversation with delegations and envoys of
11 socialist countries, including the Soviet Union.