Directive on the Report Concerning the Situation in the Shannan Region of Tibet
(20 June 1959)

This document[1] is to be forwarded by Shangkun[3] to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and regions, and to all military regions. It is also to be distributed to all members and alternate members of the Central Committee.

Mao Zedong
20 June

[1]
[2]

1. Shannan is an agricultural region in Tibet near the border. The three great lords—the monasteries, the nobility, and the government—not only exploited the people through land ownership but also plundered the masses under various pretexts.

2. At present, the bandit gangs roaming Shannan number over 1,000. They consist mainly of elements who have fled from other regions and a small number of local diehards and core members resolutely hostile to us. The characteristics of their activities are:
(1) Militarily, breaking up the whole into parts, dispersing and concealing themselves;
(2) Politically, adopting certain new and demagogic methods of sabotage;
(3) Organizationally, controlling the masses, overtly or covertly, through the agents of the three great lords in various localities.

3. The overall situation of the masses in Shannan is good; they can actively support the suppression of the rebellion and engage in production.

4. In light of the current activities of the enemy and other circumstances, the present policy for mopping-up operations should be to boldly mobilize the masses, combining political winning-over with military strikes.

[3]

Hong Xuezhi, then serving as Director of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Zhang Guohua, then serving as Commander of the Tibet Military Region of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.


The main content of the report submitted by Hong Xuezhi and Zhang Guohua on 15 June 1959 to the Central Military Commission and Huang Kecheng, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, is as follows:

Shangkun, namely Yang Shangkun, then serving as Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.