Amendments to the Central Committee’s Directive Letter on Conducting Thorough Investigative Work [1] (March 23, 1961) I. A Letter from the CPC Central Committee to All Central Bureaus and Party Committees of Provinces, Municipalities, and Autonomous Regions Concerning the Serious Conduct of Investigative Work II. To be distributed to local county-level organs, regimental-level military units, and in cities to district-level bodies as well as to the party committees of major factories, universities, and large newspapers. Printed according to Mao Zedong’s manuscript. III. The Central Committee holds that the achievements of recent years in construction have been tremendous, demonstrating the correctness of the General Line, the Great Leap Forward, and the People’s Commune movement. However, in specific work in agriculture, industry, and other fields, certain shortcomings and errors have also occurred, resulting in some losses. The fundamental cause of these shortcomings and errors lies in the fact that many leading cadres

have relaxed the highly effective investigative and research work that was carried out during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Liberation War, becoming content with merely reading paper reports and listening to oral briefings. When they do go down to the grassroots level, it is often only a cursory inspection without seeking deep understanding; moreover, for a time they based certain judgments and decisions on materials that were either unrealistic or one-sided. During this period, a pernicious style of empty rhetoric—substituting personal impressions for policy—again gained ground. This constitutes a major lesson, one that all Party leaders at every level must by no means overlook or forget, despite the price paid in learning it. Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised version. Notes [1] The CPC Central Committee’s directive letter on earnestly conducting investigative research was drafted by Hu Qiaomu, alternate member of the Secretariat and Mao Zedong’s secretary. Item one here is a title added by Mao Zedong to this directive letter; item two specifies the scope of distribution as determined by him; and item three presents an amendment to a passage within the letter, with the text set in Song typeface representing words added or revised by Mao Zedong. In addition, Mao Zedong wrote “year, month, day” as the date on the directive. On that very day, the CPC Central Committee issued the directive.