On Revising Six Poems[1] — A Letter to Comrade Chen Baichen
(April 24, 1962)

Comrade Chen Baichen:
Please consider and revise them, then return them to me. Why won’t you do a serious revision for me just once?
If you want me to do some calligraphy, that seems possible. When is your journal’s May issue being published, and when do you need the manuscript? Please let me know.
Mao Zedong
April 24

[1] Refers to the following six poems: “Pure Serene Music · The Warlords Clash” (Autumn 1929), “Gathering Mulberries · The Double Ninth” (October 1929), “Shortened Form of Magnolia Flower · On the Guangchang Road” (February 1930), “Butterflies Lingering over Flowers · From Tingzhou to Changsha” (July 1930), “Pride of the Fisherman · Against the First ‘Encirclement and Suppression’ Campaign” (Spring 1931), and “Pride of the Fisherman · Against the Second ‘Encirclement and Suppression’ Campaign” (Summer 1931). These six poems were later published in the May 1962 issue of People’s Literature.
[2] Chen Baichen was then deputy editor-in-chief of People’s Literature.