(May 31 and August 5, 1959)

Comrades Shaoqi and Xiaoping[1], after reading this, please forward it to Comrade Li Zaohua, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Water Resources:

Ask the Ministry of Water Resources to consider sending a Party member comrade at the deputy ministerial level, who possesses political acumen and technical experience, to take this document and go first to Jinan to find Comrade Tan Zhenlin[3] (Tan is currently in Jinan) and discuss it with him, because this matter was jointly discussed and decided by Comrades Tan, Zeng Xisheng, and Wu Zhifu[4] during the Wuchang Conference last December. Then proceed to Hefei to discuss it with Comrade Zeng Xisheng, and afterward go to the Linghuaigang site to conduct an investigation and see whether the situation is indeed as described by the comrades in Huaibin County[2]. If it is necessary to convene a meeting, then summon one person each at the bureau (department) level of water resources from the two provinces or at the deputy provincial governor level, and one or two persons each from Huaibin County, Lingang County, and the Linghuaigang Water Resources Engineering Bureau, to hold a meeting and properly resolve the issue.

Shangkun[1]:
One copy of this document[2] should be made for Comrade Wu Zhifu.

Mao Zedong
May 31

Mao
August 5

[1] Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who was then General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2] Refers to the telegram sent to Mao Zedong by the CPC Huaibin County Committee and the County People's Committee regarding the issue of the Linghuaigang Reservoir in Anhui not being constructed according to standards. The telegram stated that Huaibin County in Henan Province is located in the middle reaches of the Huai River, with low-lying terrain. Before liberation, it suffered from floods; after liberation, the flood menace was eliminated, and the masses praised it as a second liberation. This time, Anhui is constructing the Linghuaigang Reservoir without following the standards previously approved by the Chairman. The engineering design exceeds the originally stipulated regulations, which will expand the inundation area in the middle and upper reaches, causing significant losses to Huaibin County and making the masses extremely worried. The telegram put forward specific demands and conditions for resolving this issue and emphasized that the reservoir's flood storage level must not exceed the originally set 25.3 meters.
[3] Tan Zhenlin was then a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[4] Zeng Xisheng was then First Secretary of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee. Wu Zhifu was then First Secretary of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee and Governor of Henan Province.

[1] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who was then an Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.
[2] Refers to the report sent to Mao Zedong on July 2, 1959, by the CPC Fuyang Prefectural Committee of Anhui. The report stated that the provincial committee forwarded the report from the Huaibin County Committee of Henan to the Chairman, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power decided to postpone the construction of the Linghuaigang Reservoir. Therefore, we are submitting a report to you on our opinions and demands. The report from the Huaibin County Committee to the Chairman mentioned that the reservoir's flood storage level must not exceed 25.3 meters. If so, even a flood like that of 1954 could breach the reservoir, let alone a larger flood. Therefore, we believe the report from the Huaibin County Committee is unreasonable. As for the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power's decision to postpone the construction, we consider it unjustified. Doing so would cause great economic and production losses and would make it difficult to explain to the masses. Subsequently, on October 15, 1959, the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, in its directive to the Anhui Provincial Committee and the Henan Provincial Committee, pointed out that the issue of the Linghuaigang Reservoir project had been preliminarily discussed at Lushan, and recently the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power had convened comrades from the two provinces to exchange views, reaching a consensus on constructing this reservoir and endowing it with considerable flood control capacity. The current dispute is over how to determine the water level. To avoid delaying the project, we agree that Anhui Province may proceed this winter with the construction of the control sluice according to the original design and leave space for future expansion. Until an agreement is reached on the flood storage level, the top of the earth dam should not exceed 25 meters.