September 5, 1959. Our beloved great leader Chairman Mao personally inspected the Great Hall of the People project. After inspecting the first and second floors of the auditorium and the Shanghai Hall, he said: "The completion of the Great Hall of the People is indeed a great achievement. With such enormous merit on your part, shouldn't we erect a monument! How huge that would be! Take a photograph! But you couldn't all fit in the frame!"

Chairman Mao then kindly instructed: "We must learn from the old Red Army—seek no fame, seek no profit, disregard remuneration, and fear no sacrifice. When the Red Army fought, they had no Sundays, no rest, no overtime pay. Better to learn from the old Red Army, and be just like the old Red Army."

Chairman Mao inspected the banquet hall, inquired about the project's progress, and firmly stated: "The Great Leap Forward is indeed good. Some people say the Great Leap Forward is no good. The Ming Tombs Reservoir and the Great Hall of the People are products of the Great Leap Forward. Without the Great Leap Forward, there would be no Great Hall. Let those rightists come and see—was it the Great Leap Forward or not!"

Later, at a meeting, the Chairman again highly praised the lofty communist labor spirit of the construction workers, saying: "Recently, we saw the Tiananmen Auditorium. It took only ten months. In the past, many people said they didn't believe it. We invited a Soviet expert who said he didn't believe it. By June this year, the Soviet expert said it was possible. By September, most of them were convinced, saying that China indeed has a Great Leap Forward. Twelve thousand people, transferred from all parts of the country, the strength of every province nationwide, technical strength, human strength. They did not rest on Sundays at all, working three shifts a day, and did not implement piecework wages. Many people originally worked eight hours, but ended up working twelve hours without leaving their posts. For the extra four hours, did they want money? They did not. Some would not leave until certain projects were completed. Some stayed there for two days and two nights without sleep, persisting on the worksite—not eight hours, not twelve hours, but forty-eight hours, not leaving the worksite. Was this material incentive? An increase of a few yuan? One yuan per hour—they didn't want it. These people didn't want it. It was nothing more than an average wage of fifty yuan, just that little bit, but they struggled for a common cause. Twelve thousand workers and staff, in ten months, built such a vast complex. In this there is not only distribution according to work, but also what Lenin called the great creation of communist Saturdays, with disregard for remuneration included."