Letter to Guo Moruo [1]
(July 18, 1965)
Mr. Guo:
I am sending you a letter from Mr. Zhang Xingyan12 1 and an article by Mr. Gao Ershi13 1; please review them and make appropriate arrangements. I have also enclosed my reply to Mr. Zhang for your perusal first. It is better to engage in a literary debate than to remain silent. May I ask what your opinion is?
Wishing you peace and good health! Please extend my regards to Comrade Li Qun141 as well.
Mao Zedong
July 18, 1965
Please keep Mr. Zhang’s letter and Mr. Gao’s article with you. After reading my reply to Mr. Zhang, kindly return it to me.
[1] Guo Moruo, historian and writer, served at the time as President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
[2]
Zhang Xingyan,
also known as Zhang Shizhao,
was then a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Director of the Central Institute for Literary and Historical Research.
[3]
Refers to “A Refutation of the Authenticity of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion,” written by Gao Ershi, a member of the Nanjing Municipal Institute for Literary and Historical Research. This article presented dissenting views on Guo Moruo’s essay “On the Authenticity of the ‘Preface to the Orchid Pavilion’ Based on the Excavation of the Tombs of the Wang and Xie Families.” The article was published in the Guangming Daily on July 23, 1965.
[4]
Li Qun,
i.e., Yu Liqun, Guo Moruo’s wife.

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The envelope of Mao Zedong’s letter to Guo Moruo.

The letter to Guo Moruo
The manuscript of Mao Zedong’s letter to Guo Moruo.