T E X T E I G H T Summary of a Talk with the Representatives of Press and Publishing Circles

10 MARCH 1957

[75] From 3:00 to 7:00 P.M. on 10 March, Chairman Mao held an informal discussion in his office with representatives of the press and publishing circles. Participating in this informal discussion were Jin Zhonghua,1 the representative of 's Xinwen ribao [Daily

Sources: 9:75-90, alternate text, 7:46-59. A truncated version of this exchange has been pub­ lished in xinwen gongzuo wenxuan (A selection of Mao Zedong's writings on news work) (, Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), pp. 186-95. The excisions made in the 1983 version seem designed to gloss over contemporary political problems. An even briefer ver­ sion of this text appears in the restricted circulation publication, Wenxian he yanjiu: 1983 huibianben (Documents and research: 1983 Selections) (Beijing, Renmin chubanshe, 1984), pp. 54-62. That this last neibu version is less complete than the public version serves as a warning that "restricted circulation'' does not guarantee greater completeness. 1Jin Zhonghua (b. 1902) was one of China's leading journalists. He had worked in the 1930s 250 TEXT EIGHT

News] and China News Service; Wang Yunsheng, representative [of] Dagong bao,Z [and] Shanghai [76] Wenhui baa's representative, Xu Zhucheng.3 To start the discussion, the Chairman first invited the non-party personages from Shanghai to speak. The Chairman asked when Shanghai's Shen bao was abolished. [When he] heard the reply that Shen bao stopped publishing after Liberation, the Chairman remarked: There was no reason to abolish Shen bao, so old a paper of several decades' standing. What newspaper has it become?

(Someone replied: Changed into ]iefang ribao [Liberation daily].)

Chairman: It was probably not good to have changed it. [But] if [we] changed it back, it would appear to be a restoration. But this problem needs to be studied.

Next Xu Zhucheng of raised [some] problems. He said that, following the changed format of the People's Daily last July, newspapers in Shanghai also made changes; but there were still many problems following the change. Everyone felt his level ofMarxism was low [and] was uncertain as to how to run newspapers in a socialist society.

Chairman: [You're] uncertain now, but gradually [you'll] become cer­ tain. All matters are uncertain at the beginning. We never thought things through before we started fighting guerrilla warfare; [only

for Shijie zhishi (World knowledge). From 1944 to 1948, in Chongqing and then in Shang­ hai, he was in charge of press translations for American missions. He was editor of Xinwen ribao from 1949 to 1952. In 1955, he became chairman of the board of China Reconstructs. He replaced Xu Zhucheng (seen. 3) at the helm of Wenhui bao when Xu was purged. 2Wang Yunsheng (b. 1899) had been editor-in-chief of Dagong bao before 1949, and resumed that post from 1949 until1953, when he became a director of the paper. A long-time com­ munist supporter, he was a delegate to the National People's Congress. See Whos Who in Communist China vol. 2 (, URI, 1969), pp. 705-6. 3Xu Zhucheng, a graduate from Peking Normal University in 1927, became editor of Shanghai's Wenhui bao in 1938. He was purged as a rightist in 1958, but is an active jour­ nalist in China today'. He recalls some of his experiences in the "Hundred Flowers" in Bao· hai jiu wen (Old stories about journalism) (Shanghai, Renmin chubanshe, 1981), pp. 313-5.