These two items [2] are to be distributed to all comrades.
Comrade Chen Guodong's report is an important document.
I request the heads of the various greater administrative regions to preside over discussions, to discuss meticulously, two to three times.
I basically agree with the opinions stated in this document.
However, I feel: (1) Assuming this year's harvest is indeed better than last year's, procuring 110 billion catties and striving to achieve it—this is the first move to turn passivity into initiative. If after the autumn harvest this year's harvest is indeed better than last year's and indeed proves to be without doubt, why can we not procure this amount? (2) Regarding next year's sales plan, I feel not only is 102 billion catties too much, but the adjustment in this document to 85.5 billion catties also seems slightly excessive. Can it be adjusted to 80 billion catties, or 81 or 82 billion catties? Tell the peasants to restore the practice of half a year's grain supplemented by bran and vegetables—can this be done? Endure hardship for one year, two years, three years, and we will turn things around. Store more, consume less, fix quotas per person, grain belongs to the household, eat in the canteens, surplus belongs to the individual, eat more when busy, eat less when idle, alternate between coarse and fine, mix grain and vegetables—can we still eat our fill and eat well by doing this? (3) Producing more grain is the best policy. For field edges, plot corners, and scattered pieces of land, whoever plants them reaps the harvest, with no requisition or purchase, mainly to solve the problem of fodder, and partly for human consumption. Restore private vegetable gardens, and be sure to appropriately allocate private plots. All such measures can increase the harvest. Since more is harvested, more can be eaten (mainly for pigs to eat, partly for people to eat, such as vegetables). (4) Arrange daily life well and meticulously. Can we arrange daily life according to the actual output of 1957? Wasn't life in 1957 fairly good? By doing so, the peasants' grain reserves can be increased considerably. With grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart; with feet on solid ground, there is joy and cheer. (5) Under the circumstances where it is truly known after this year's autumn harvest that grain output has increased compared to last year, we must set aside two types of fodder—livestock fodder and pig fodder—and they must be more than in the past. Can they amount to half of the people's grain ration? One catty of grain for people, half a catty for fodder. Conditions vary from place to place, so there will inevitably be more or less, but we must resolutely pay attention to this issue. Except in disaster-stricken areas, fodder must be more than in the past. Increasing fodder is extremely beneficial. Livestock are a source of power. Some livestock provide meat and dairy (old cattle, beef cattle, dairy cows). Manure can fertilize the fields. Hides, wool, bones, and horns are of great use. Eating more meat and less grain—animal protein is superior to plant protein—will further develop people's physiques and make them healthier. Pigs provide meat and also fertilizer. Within three, five, or seven years, strive to achieve one pig per mu of farmland. One pig is a small organic chemical fertilizer factory. The main outlet for fertilizer is pigs, one pig per mu of farmland.
The above points are only for the reference of the comrades in this discussion and must not be transmitted downward. Where there are inaccuracies, I am prepared to make revisions.
Mao Zedong
July 5, 6:00 a.m.
Printed based on the manuscript.

Notes
[1] This is a comment written by Mao Zedong during the Lushan Politburo Enlarged Conference in July 1959 for the distribution of the report by Chen Guodong, Vice Minister of Grain, dated July 4, 1959, titled "Report on Opinions Regarding the Adjustment of Grain Distribution and Grain Revenue and Expenditure Plans for the 1959–1960 Fiscal Year."
[2] Refers to Chen Guodong's report and the letter dated July 5, 1959, from Li Xiannian, Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, submitting this report to Mao Zedong. Chen Guodong's report recommended continuing the method of fixing grain quotas per person in cities and continuing the method of fixed grain production, fixed purchase, and fixed sales in rural areas, while making necessary and possible adjustments to grain output, purchase volumes, sales volumes, and rural grain retention standards based on changes in production and consumption. Of the grain increased annually on the basis of fixed production, the state would purchase only an additional 40 percent, with the peasants retaining 60 percent. If output decreased, the requisition and purchase figures would be correspondingly reduced. The report held that the originally set grain requisition and purchase target of 115.5 billion catties could still be achieved as long as the work was done well. The originally set grain sales target of 97.5 billion catties was somewhat too large and could be adjusted to 85.5 billion catties. Only in this way could the replenishment of state stockpiles be guaranteed and the passive situation in grain work be reversed.