This issue is quite significant. Please ask Director Wang[3] to distribute it to the Central Committee and the Military Commission for study and appropriate handling.

Mao Zedong
October 15, 1972

[1] This is Mao Zedong's comment on two documents submitted on September 27, 1972, by a teacher from the Beijing Institute of Technology.
[2] The two documents submitted by the teacher from the Beijing Institute of Technology, titled *Current Problems in National Defense Industry Higher Education Institutions and Suggestions for Improvement* and *A Problem Currently Existing Among Scientific and Technical Personnel*, argued that: China's more than ten national defense industry higher education institutions, originally under the unified leadership of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, were reassigned in early 1970 to the respective leadership of various national defense industrial departments. This approach undermined schools that had relatively good foundations, hindered the development of education in the national defense system, and resulted in chaotic, cumbersome, and highly irrational specialty arrangements. Suggestions included: First, restore the original system in which the National Defense Science and Technology Commission exercised unified management over the institutions, while simultaneously implementing dual leadership by the central and local authorities, so that national defense industry institutions could serve the entire nation. Second, earnestly implement policies on intellectuals, and encourage those who make inventions and innovations. Third, specific tasks should not be delayed. For example, the leadership and management systems for scientific research, production, and teaching, as well as the operational scope and division of labor among various units and departments, the specialty arrangements in higher education institutions, and the operational orientation of scientific research units, must all be resolved as soon as possible.
[3] Refers to Wang Dongxing, then Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.