Comrade Lin Biao:

Your letter was received some time ago. I am very pleased to hear that your health has improved. With the arrival of spring, it would be advisable for you to take walks outdoors. Your views on the two documents are entirely correct. Both the domestic and international situations have taken a turn for the better and are now on the right track. It is reasonable to expect even greater progress in the future.  The two documents concerning the socialist movement in the countryside were issued in mid-November. Early this month, reports began coming in from various provinces. In some localities, meetings were convened for all members of production brigades, including the “five types of counter-revolutionaries” (in some cases, as many as seven hundred or more people attended), at which the documents were read aloud, followed by group discussions. The results have been most encouraging. If the armed forces were to follow this approach, there is every reason to believe that similar success could be achieved. Specifically, capable political and military cadres at the regimental and battalion levels could, over several sessions, read the documents to all personnel at the company level, provide explanations, and facilitate discussion. Allowing the rank and file to raise their own questions and concerns, while the lecturers address these issues, would undoubtedly develop into a large-scale campaign of socialist policy education. (Cadres from the army and division levels might also be dispatched in small groups to join the regimental and battalion teams, participating in the readings and discussions as a form of officers serving alongside the troops. As for senior leaders—such as Comrades ××, ××, Yang ×, Liao ××, Xu Shiyou, Huang Yongsheng, Liu Yalou, and others—they too should select one or two companies to visit and deliver one or two lectures. These talks should be tailored to the specific circumstances, beginning with a brief survey of the conditions prevailing in the units slated for instruction.) I wonder whether arrangements have already been made in accordance with your suggestions? From my conversations with a few comrades in several grassroots military units in Beijing, it appears that they are still unaware of this matter; they have neither seen the documents nor heard them read aloud. In fact, implementing this initiative presents no particular difficulty: all that would be required is a directive from the General Political Department instructing each military region and each branch of the armed forces to print and distribute the documents—one copy per party cell—and pass them down through the chain of command. Regimental and battalion-level propaganda teams could then be formed to conduct simultaneous readings and explanations at the company level, using platoons or squads as discussion units, encouraging free expression and permitting dissenting or even opposing views. In this way, a peak period of heightened policy awareness could be reached within a relatively short span of time—say, a few weeks—thereby elevating the overall level of political understanding. (Since regular training schedules must not be disrupted, the readings would naturally have to be integrated into the routine curriculum, hence the need for several weeks; were training to be temporarily suspended, however, one or two weeks would suffice.) After the initial round of lectures, another session could be held several months later to deepen comprehension. Once the military gets moving, it could also assign certain cadres to assist local authorities in conducting similar outreach efforts in factories and rural areas. Such collaboration between the military and the civilian population would foster mutual understanding and support: the people would come to know and uphold the armed forces, while the military would gain a better grasp of and greater capacity to aid the people—a truly beneficial development. I would like to ask you and Comrades Luo and Xiao to deliberate and decide how best to proceed along these lines.

Best wishes!

Mao Zedong
December 14, 1963

Cao Cao composed a poem entitled “The Divine Turtle’s Longevity,” which expounds on the principles of health preservation and is quite excellent. I suggest you seek it out and read it; it may help strengthen your confidence.  P.S.: Cao Cao’s “The Divine Turtle’s Longevity”

Though the divine turtle may live long, its days are nonetheless numbered. The soaring serpent, borne upon the mists, ultimately turns to dust. An aged steed lies low in its stall, yet its heart still yearns for a thousand li; a noble warrior in his twilight years retains an undaunted spirit. The length of our lives depends not solely on fate; by cultivating serenity and joy, we may attain enduring years.  [How fortunate indeed! Let us sing to express our aspirations.]