(When reporting on the situation of confiscated weapons, saying that as of September 16,
more than 40,000 guns were confiscated in the province)
Mao Zedong (hereinafter referred to as Mao): Who distributed these guns? I see that both
parties distributed them, who distributed more?
Answer: The conservative faction of the military sub-district people's armed forces
department distributed them.
Mao: Oh.
(When reporting on the Fuzhou issue)
Mao: The Fuzhou issue is worth studying. Why are they so bold? They always hold meetings
to study the situation. They think that the situation in Jiangxi, the country and the world is
favourable to them, so they do this. I think they have misjudged the situation.
 (When reporting that they organized a group of people to control nine counties)
Mao: From this point of view, they want to expand their power and attack Nanchang. What
kind of problem is this?
Answer: According to the spirit of the central government's instructions, it is a military
rebellion.
Mao: Are you sure?
A: It has been decided.
Mao: Has it been approved?
A: The Premier has approved it.
Mao: Oh, it is a rebellion, an attack. They say there is no civil war in China. I think this is a
civil war, not a foreign war. It is an armed struggle, not a literary struggle. In Ganzhou, Ji'an,
Yichun and other places, they also carry out agricultural management. One person is
selected from each production team, and more than ten people are selected from each
brigade. They use coercive methods to record work points and earn 60 cents a day. Now the
countryside is surrounding the city. I don't think it will work.
(When reporting that the Chairman's thoughts and policies have taken deep root in the
hearts of the people of Jiangxi and have played a decisive role in the situation in Jiangxi)



Mao: At the end of May, I wrote a few words to Comrade Lin Biao and the Premier, saying
that why the Jiangxi Military Region is so opposed to the masses is worth studying. I did not
draw a conclusion. I was referring to Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Henan.
(When reporting on Wang Jingyi's problem)
Mao: We should protect him. He played a role at a critical moment. I think we should start
with education. There are always a minority of bad people, and there are always more good
people in the People's Armed Forces Department. There are many people in the military
sub-district who are deceived. Some people have made mistakes, and we should give them a
chance to correct their mistakes.
Mao: Did the support-left troops come during the June 29 Incident?
Answer: Not yet.
Mao: Did they think the Central Committee would support them?
Answer: They took Nanchang first, and it would not work even if the whole country
disagreed. They wanted to create a fait accompli and force the Central Committee to
recognize it.
Mao: Oh. Wang Jingyi, the rebels scolded him, and the "Fireline War Report" was published.
The "Fireline War Report" always said: Liu Peishan and Lin Zhongzhao are guilty, but Wu
Ruishan is not mentioned. Why not mention Zhou Zitao?
Answer: Zhou Zitao was a deputy chief of staff.
(When reporting that "32·111" had basically collapsed)
Mao: I heard that some stragglers fled to Ningchang and Guangdu. What was the result?
A: They have already dispersed.
Mao: Oh, they have already dispersed.
(When reporting that the rebels have some revengeful feelings towards the deceived
masses)
Mao: This is not good. You should pay attention. You rebels should be persuaded very well
and not retaliate. You are on the side of the rebels, and I am afraid you will not listen to
them completely. Killing people is always bad. It is not good for others to kill you, and it is
not good for you to kill others. You need to persuade and educate. Retaliation, kneeling,
wearing dunce caps, hanging signs, and the jet plane position, this is not good.
Mao: Do you have a steel plant here?
Answer: There is a Nanchang Steel Plant.



Mao: It was reported in the Fire Line Report that Nanchang Steel Plant was lost and Lushan
was lost. Have they been recovered?
Answer: It has been recovered.
Mao: Is there a person named Wei in Lushan?
Answer: Wei XX. Former Party Secretary of Lushan Administration Bureau.
Mao: Which faction does this person belong to?
Answer: He belongs to the conservative faction.
(When reporting that the rebels in various places were suppressed and attacked in the
previous period and were forced to flee to Nanchang, and the masses said that Nanchang
was a liberated area)
Mao: Oh, such an incident has also occurred. I am afraid it is not just in Jiangxi.
(When reporting on the issue of Xia Shaolin)
Mao: We should also pay attention to the treatment of Xia Shaolin. He is bad, but he is
different from Wang Jingyi.
(When reporting on the issue of Li Sheng)
Mao: Li Sheng, there is no need to report.
Mao: Are there still debates in factories and schools?
A: The conservatives have all collapsed, but there are still debates among the rebels.
Mao: Is there a train to Jiujiang?
A: Yes, and so are the roads and shipping.
Mao: Are there any in Jiangxi? The big counties still have them, but the small ones don’t.
Mao: Some people say that the communes, districts, counties, and special districts have
been paralysed. What does paralysis mean? There are always people there, either from one
faction or another. The Jiujiang Military Sub-district seems to be better.
A: Most people are better.
Mao: There is also Zhong Fuchang!
A: His name has been changed to Zhong Guang.
Mao: He is a good man, an honest man.
Mao: How long have you been back?
A: A month.



Mao: There are still a dozen provinces in Beijing. We need to solve them one by one. The
central government has not proposed any plan. Let them do it themselves and see what
they can do. You guys also did it yourself. Are there any people from that faction working in
the province now?
Answer: The liaison station has collapsed.
(When it was reported that Cheng Mingyuan had returned by himself, wrote a self-criticism,
and was now arrested by the rebels)
Mao: Let Cheng Mingyuan go back. Don't make it too tense.
Mao: How about Huang Zhizhen, Zi Dongcun. Do they have hope?
(After reporting the situation of Huang and Zi)
Mao: If they can be protected, it would be good to win over a few more people.
Zhang Chunqiao (hereinafter referred to as Zhang): The provincial party committee originally
put Huang Zhiqi in the front line.
Mao: I see that he has done a lot of work. He is holding the line there.
Mao: Did the provincial party committee set up an organization to protect itself in the past?
Answer: The workers’ Red Guards were organized.
Mao: Is it a good thing or a bad thing that so many cadres have collapsed? Have you studied
this issue? We should give them time to recognize and correct their mistakes, and criticize
the idea of “overthrowing everything”.
Zhang: There are still many people in Nanchang.
(When reporting that these people are fighting against right deviation and anti-restoration)
Mao: How can there be so many restorations? They have collapsed and cannot be restored.
There is a saying that they collapsed. In fact, the world will not be in chaos, and the sky will
not fall.
(When reporting that some good articles were written in Wenhui Daily, which had a great
influence)
Zhang: People are still against our right deviation, saying that we have become right.
Mao: It is a question of educating the left, not a question of right deviation. For example,
how many factions were there in the past? In Jiangxi, there were the Central Soviet Area, the
Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Soviet Area, the Fujian-Jiangxi Soviet
Area, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area, the XXX, and northern Shaanxi. During the Anti-
Japanese War, there were even more bases. We are united by one program. No matter
which faction it is, we cannot just want one faction and not the others. How can we have



only factions? In the past, I only knew that Comrade Chen Changfeng and Comrade Yang
Dezhi were soldiers in Jinggangshan. Later, I came here and got to know them after I arrived
in northern Shaanxi. Comrade Yang Chengwu was the head of a regiment during the Long
March. He said he had seen me there during the Long March. I forgot that I only met
Comrade Yang Chengwu later. None of you knew him before. You who are division
commanders may not know many people. You who are army commanders may not know
many people. Some of them only know their surnames, not their given names. Soldiers only
know so-and-so regiment commanders, so-and-so division commanders, and so-and-so
army commanders, but they cannot name them. I tend to save more people. Those who can
be saved should be saved. As long as we win over the majority, it’s okay if a very small
number of people remain stubborn. We will give them food.
(When reporting that the support-left troops were beaten by conservatives by four or five
hundred people)
Mao: Were there any casualties?
Answer: When the troops entered Fuzhou, they were ambushed by Xia Shaolin and his men
three times on the road. Our soldiers were all in the car, and they were all shot in the head
and chest. Five people died and 56 were injured.
(When reporting Xia Shaolin's rebellion, he first took away the code and radio station. The
Chairman exclaimed in surprise.)
Mao: In the past, the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee said that Jiangxi had no army and
asked me to talk to the Central Committee and criticize a division.
Mao: (Asking Chen Changfeng) How many people are there in your division?
 Chen: (Omitted)
Mao: It's a small division.
(When reporting the deeds of Li Wenzhong of the XX Division in supporting the left and
loving the people)
Mao: I read the "Fireline Report", which has photos of the three of them. They are all very
young. How many people are left in this platoon now?
Answer: There are still 17 people.
Mao: A group of cadres in Jiangxi have stood up. You are at the provincial level, and more
people should stand up at the provincial level. And how many cadres can stand up at the
municipal level?
(At this time, the Chairman also asked Huang Guang, Liu Ruisen, and Guo Guangzhou where
they were from. Guo Guangzhou replied that they were from Jishui County)



Mao: Some people say that Wen Tianxiang is from Ji'an, but in fact, Wen Tianxiang is from
Jishui!
Mao: I read the "Fireline Report" about Nanchang's emergency, the fall of Nangang and
Lushan, the white terror, Yichun's military control, and the rural areas taking over the cities.
The most tense period was in June, July, and August. When it was tense, I realized that the
problem was revealed and the problem was easy to solve. If it wasn't tense, how could it be
solved! Three thousand rebels in Ji'an escaped. How could they be eliminated? There must
be some people left!
Answer: Some stayed and operated underground.
Mao: Now some people are trying to incite soldiers to oppose their officers, saying that you
only get six yuan a month, while the rich earn more and ride in cars. Peasants are willing to
join the People's Liberation Army. The People's Liberation Army is glorious. They get six yuan
a month and their families are treated well. Peasants are willing to join the army. I don't
think they can incite.
Mao: The Jiangxi Military Region should not make it too hard to carry out the Four Bigs.
Once the soldiers come together, they will be very angry and unable to restrain themselves.
When they fight, they will wear dunce caps, hang black cards, kneel down, and do jet-style
fighting. People can't stand it, and it's not elegant! Wearing dunce caps is something I
learned from my "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan". You
cannot punish without teaching. To punish is to kill. You cannot punish without teaching. We
suffered this loss in the past. We did not ask the cadres of the military region and military
sub-district to go to Beijing for education. You should train the armed cadres first.
Yang Chengwu: We have held a training class in Beijing, gathering cadres from several
provinces for intensive training.
Mao: The central government should hold it, and mainly the provinces should hold it. Not
only the army should hold it, but also the local party, government, culture and education
should have training. In the past, when we held a cadre meeting, if no one from the
commune came, everyone could come. How many counties are there in Jiangxi?
Answer: 82 counties.
Mao: We can divide them into three batches. Training is better than no training. The time is
at most two months. It won’t work if it’s too long. In the past, the enlistment period in
Huangpu was five months, and the training was four months. Comrade Lin Biao only lived in
Huangpu for five months. In some military schools, the longer you study, the more confused
you become.
(When reporting on the preparations for the provincial rebel political work meeting in
October)



Chairman Mao: This is good. The rebels also need training. They cannot sit still and have
become wild. There are many rebels. If the first phase is not enough, they can be trained in
the second or third phase. There are many rebels. I think the training method is good. An
independent battalion in Inner Mongolia has more than 800 people. They are supporting the
protection of the Central Committee and oppose the decision of the Central Committee on
the Inner Mongolia issue. When they arrived in Beijing, they were very angry and made a big
fuss. They did not listen to the Premier and broke the furniture. The meeting could not
continue. They put forward five demands to the Central Committee. After that, they went to
Gaobeidian, a new city in Beijing, for training for 40 days and changed their minds. When
they returned, they still supported the left and not the right. The independent battalion and
the independent division changed their minds after training.
I don't have such a deadly view of the current rightists. There are bad people, but they are a
minority. Most of them have problems with their understanding. Some people say that the
problem of understanding is a problem of stance. Once the problem of stance is mentioned,
it is a matter of principle, and they will never be able to turn over a new leaf in their lifetime.
Can the problem of stance not be changed? For most people, stance can be changed, but for
a very small number of bad people, it cannot be changed. In short, the scope of attack
should be narrowed, and the scope of education should be expanded. Education should
include left, middle and right. Leftists will become extremely "left" if they are not educated.
Zhao Yongfu and Tan Zhenlin are arrested everywhere. How can there be so many Zhao
Yongfu and Tan Zhenlin? What are they arrested in Jiangxi?
Answer: The Red Guards arrested Liu Peishan, Wu Ruishan, Lin Zhongzhao, and some people
went to Fujian to arrest XXX. The Premier asked us to call back.
 Mao: Your phone calls may not work, right?
Mao: We should protect them, not embarrass them, and make them correct their mistakes.
You are right now, but it is not good to go too far.
Wang Dongxing: It’s half past eleven now. We have been talking for an hour and a half.
Mao: That’s it!

[1] These are some important instructions given by Mao Zedong and others when he met
with Cheng Shiqing, Yang Dongliang, Huang Xian, Liu Ruisen, Guo Guangzhou, Chen
Changfeng and other members of the preparatory group of the Jiangxi Provincial
Revolutionary Committee. Accompanying the meeting were Yang Chengwu, Zhang
Chunqiao, Wang Dongxing and Yu Lijin.