Instructions on Reports Concerning Drought Resistance
(August 2, 1959)

These two documents[1] are to be distributed to all comrades. This year, drought-stricken areas have reached five or six provinces, and the situation is serious. The great drought resistance struggle of the broad masses under the leadership of the Party has already been launched.

Comrade Wu Lengxi[2]:
Regarding the drought conditions in various provinces and the drought resistance struggle, please instruct Xinhua News Agency to report truthfully, boost morale, and ensure that the fight against drought is carried through to the end. Man will conquer nature, and we must strive for a bountiful harvest. Oppose all feelings of pessimism and despair.

Mao Zedong
August 2

[1] Refers to the brief report of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China dated July 30, 1959, on the situation of drought resistance and seedling protection submitted to the Central Committee and the State Council, and the report of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China dated July 28, 1959, on the drought situation submitted to the Central Committee. The Henan Provincial Committee’s brief report stated: Since the beginning of July, our province has generally shown signs of drought, which are becoming increasingly severe. At the initial stage of the drought, the Provincial Committee issued an urgent directive on drought resistance and seedling protection to strive for a bountiful autumn harvest, and Party committees at all levels immediately threw themselves into the drought resistance struggle. Now, the mass movement for drought resistance and seedling protection has reached a high tide and has achieved certain results. At present, the drought is still developing in a severe direction, and the struggle for drought resistance and seedling protection has entered a difficult stage. The Provincial Committee demands that the struggle against drought must be carried through to the end, ensuring the complete victory of the drought resistance struggle. The Hubei Provincial Committee’s report stated: Since July, the drought situation in our province has developed very rapidly. The Provincial Committee is determined to resist drought and ensure a bountiful harvest. It issued an urgent directive on drought prevention and resistance on July 16, and on July 19 convened a province-wide emergency mobilization telephone conference on drought prevention and resistance, clearly making drought resistance the prominent central task of current work and proposing several specific measures to overcome the disaster and ensure a bountiful harvest.

[2] Wu Lengxi, then Director of Xinhua News Agency and Editor-in-Chief of *Renmin Ribao*.