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(March 23, 1961)
A letter from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to all Central Bureaus, and the Party Committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, on the issue of earnestly conducting investigation and research work.
To be distributed down to the county level in localities, the regimental level in the army, and in cities down to the district level as well as to the Party committees of large factories, universities, and major newspapers.
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The Central Committee’s directive letter on earnestly conducting investigation and research work was drafted by Hu Qiaomu, alternate secretary of the Central Secretariat and Mao Zedong’s secretary. This first part is the title Mao Zedong added to this directive letter; this second part is the scope of distribution Mao Zedong determined for the directive letter; this third part consists of revisions to a passage in the directive letter, in which the text printed in Song typeface represents the words added and rewritten by Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong also dated the directive letter “March 23, 1961.” On that same day, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued this directive.

The Central Committee holds that the achievements in construction in recent years are great, proving that the direction of the General Line, the Great Leap Forward, and the People’s Communes is correct. However, some shortcomings and mistakes have also occurred in the concrete work of agriculture, industry, and other fields, causing some losses. The fundamental reason why these shortcomings and mistakes occurred is that many leading personnel have relaxed the investigation and research work which was conducted with great effectiveness during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, contenting themselves with reading reports on paper and listening to oral briefings, and when going down [to lower levels], merely viewing flowers from horseback, not seeking deep understanding, and, for a period of time, making judgments and decisions based on some materials that did not conform to reality or were one-sided. During this period, the vile style of indulging in bombastic talk and substituting personal impressions for policy has again reared its head. This is a major lesson, and leading comrades at all levels throughout the Party must never ignore or forget this lesson paid for at a cost.