Comments on a Letter from Zhang Feng of the Editorial Department of Fossil
(September 16, 1975)
Comrades Xiaoping and Wenyuan:
Please consider whether this letter No. 121 could be circulated to all central comrades in Beijing.
Mao Zedong
September 16
[1]
Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time served as Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
Wenyuan refers to Yao Wenyuan.
[2]
This refers to a letter dated September 6, 1975, from Zhang Feng of the editorial department of the journal Fossil, addressed to Mao Zedong. In the letter, Zhang stated that he was an editor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Although the popular science publication Fossil had received initial positive feedback from workers, peasants, and soldiers since its inception three years earlier, it had been subjected to rejection, suppression by certain officials in the publishing sector, and nitpicking by a few authorities. As a result, it continued to be published only twice a year with a single editor. After learning of the central leadership’s August directive to produce large-format editions of both the Journal of Zoology and Fossil, Zhang noted that their journal had attracted Chairman Mao’s attention. Consequently, the publishing house and the institute had agreed to transform Fossil into a quarterly and to increase the editorial staff to four members. The letter also put forward several specific suggestions regarding popular science work. When Mao reviewed the letter, he added the title “A Grievance Letter” to it.