Mr. Xingyan: I have received all your letters and the lower volume of “An Outline of Liu Zongyuan’s Writings”[2], and have already read them once; I intend to read them again.
I also wish to reread the upper volume.
Furthermore, some friends of mine would like to read it as well.
The fundamental issue concerns the materialist conception of history—primarily the question of class struggle.
However, this cannot be expected of elderly scholars whose worldviews are already firmly established, so there is no need to make any changes.
In the future, historians may criticize you on this point; you should be mentally prepared for such criticism and not fear it.
I have also read Mr. Gao’s commentary on Guo’s article[3]. His argument is that genuine seal script, regular script, and cursive script stone inscriptions could never be unearthed from tombs.
It can be stated categorically that cursive script was never used for epigraphic inscriptions.
As for whether seal script and regular script were ever employed in tomb inscriptions, that remains to be confirmed by archaeological excavations.
Nevertheless, debate is necessary.
I shall endeavor to persuade Comrades Guo Lao, Kang Sheng, and Bo Da[4] to approve the public publication of Gao Ershi’s essay.
Please send the upper volume of “Liu Wen”[2] without delay.
With best wishes for your health and good fortune!
Mao Zedong, July 18, 1965.

Printed from the Selected Letters of Mao Zedong, published by the People’s Publishing House in 1983.

Notes [1] Zhang Shizhao (1881–1973), courtesy name Xingyan, was a native of Changsha, Hunan Province.
At the time, he served as 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.

[2] Refers to Zhang Shizhao’s work, “An Outline of Liu Zongyuan’s Writings.” It is a specialized study of Liu Zongyuan’s collected works.

[3] Refers to “A Rebuttal 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 “On the Authenticity of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Based on the Excavation of Epitaphs of the Wang and Xie Families,” and was published in the Guangming Daily on July 23, 1965.

[4] “Guo Lao” refers to Guo Moruo, who at the time held the position of President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Kang Sheng (1898–1975), from Jiaonan, Shandong Province, served as a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.
Bo Da refers to Chen Boda, who at the time was an Alternate Member of the CPC Central Politburo and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Red Flag.