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Endorsement on the Issuance of Hu Qiaomu’s Proposal for Promoting the Production of Food Substitutes Such as Chlorella [1] (October 27, 1960) The proposal is hereby circulated to all Central Bureaus and to the first secretaries of the provincial, municipal, and regional party committees for their study and implementation.

Printed from the manuscript. Note [1] On October 27, 1960, Hu Qiaomu, alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong’s secretary, wrote to Mao Zedong stating that promoting the production of chlorella was of great significance under the current circumstances of food shortages caused by natural disasters: 1. It could at least prevent starvation and reduce or even eliminate edema. 2. It would lessen incidents of poisoning resulting from the indiscriminate gathering of wild edible plants. 3. It would help maintain labor productivity and the physical strength of workers and peasants, preventing their decline due to food insufficiency. Moreover, the cultivation of chlorella hardly competes with crop farming for land, water, fertilizer, or labor. Therefore, I propose that the Central Committee issue a special directive—addressed down to the level of people’s communes—to promote the production of chlorella and other food substitutes, to be discussed at agricultural conferences in each province, with arrangements to be made under a system of tiered responsibility. In the south, chlorella can be produced year-round; in the north, greenhouses will be needed during the winter. As winter is already approaching, now is the opportune moment. On November 3, 1960, the CPC Central Committee forwarded Hu Qiaomu’s proposal.