LITERATT]RE Monthly \y elanuary t GREAT MAN OF A GLORIOUS ERA In His Mind a Million Bold V/arriors -Yen Cbang-lin STORIES 'Ihe Unglovable Hands -Cbao Shu-li 44 Sowing the Clords-Li Cban I' POEMS The Sisha Archipelago Yuan -Ko PAGES FROM HISTORY Tearing the Mask Off the U.S. Armed Forces Cbung Hsi-tung - CLASSICAL HERITAGE On Tbe Pilgrimage to the W'est Tst-bsiang II' -'Vu The Pilgrimage to the West (an novel) excerpt from the - 'Vu Cbeng-en n6 COMMEMORATION The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Death of Leo Tolstoy-Mao Tun r71 CHRONICLE r8o PLATES Chairman Mao Tse-tung - Liu Kai-cbu 40-4r Spring in the Date Orchard Cbun rr4-rrt -Hsiu Spring Is Always Us Cben Tzu-fen t72-17' with - Front Cover: Woodcut by Tan Chuan-shu Creat Man of a Glorious Era Ct-uNEse LITSRATURE YEN CHANG-L]N montbly In His Mind a" Million Bold EDITOR: Mao Tun ASSISTANT EDITOR: Yeh Chun-chien $Tarriors Publishcd below is a reminiscencc by Yen Chang-lin recording the fighting life of Chairman Mao Tse-tung in the northern Shensi campaign during the petiod of the Third Revolutionary Civil l7ar. The historical siruation dcpicted in rhc reminiscence is as follows: Aftcr the victory of the \Var of Resistance Against Japanesc Aggression in 1945 the Kuominiang, disregarding the peoplc's eaget desite for peace, started a civil war with the support of the U.S. imperialists, vainly attempting to destroy the libcrated areas one by onc with an ovcrrvhelming superiot military force so as to realize its crazy drcam of cnforcing its reactionary rulc over the whole country. Soon af tcr it began the civil war, the Kuomintang in the spring of t947 concentrated ovcr two hundred and thirty thousand mcn to launch an offensive against Yenan whcre the Central Com- mittee of the Chinese Communist Party was. At that time the Northwest Pcoplc's Liberation Army in thc Shensi-Kansu- Ningsia Bordcr Rcgion had only a littlc morc than twenty thou- sand rnen. But under Chairman Mao Tse-tung's brilliant com- mand, the enemy not only failed to achieve its purpose of desttoying thc lcading orgsnizations of the Central Committee of the Chincse Communist Party and thc Nortbwest Pcople's Libcration Army or of driving thcm to the east Published by Foreign I-anguagcs Press of the Yellow River, but on the contrary was dcalt many heavy blorvs by the Pai !7an Chuang, Pcking (17), China Northwest Pcoplc's Libcration Army. Finally rvhen it had lost People's Republic ol Cbina Prinled in tbe a large part of its m..rin force the enemy had to flee in great confusion while our Northwcst Pcoplc's Liberation Army vic- toriously switched to a countcr-offensive. Starting in March ry47 when our f otces withdrcw from Yenan, until we switchcd to the offcnsive on the northwest battlefield, Chairman Mao Tse-tuug remaincd all thc time in the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Borclcr Rcgion. 'Ihis f act greatly encouraged and strengthcncd the fighting will and confidence in victory of the people and armies of thc Shensi-Kansu- Ningsia Border Rcgion and of all thc libcrated areas of the country. The autl.ror Yen Chang lin during the period 1946 r95r was leader of Chairman Mao's guards. In this reminisccnce, the author gives a genuine, intimate and moving description of the Chairman's firm unshakable confidence in victory when leading the people of the whole country to win thorough liberation, his determined tireless spirit in work, his frugality and sim- plicity in daily life and his most lofty and great thinking and spiritual outlook. This teminiscence will be concluded in the next issue. families. Chairman Mao Tse-tung, Vice-Chairman Chou En-lai, and More than a month had passed since the otganizations of the Comrades Pishih and Lu Ting-yi, were all living in two Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party had left Jen Yenan. During this period, changing our direction suddenly and and a half cave rooms which the poor peasant Old Man Wang frequently, we had led the enemy a dizzy chase. Every place had loaned to them. Dark and dilapidated, the place was full we came to, rve stayed only a few days, then moved on. The of pickled vegctable vats. You could smell the sour odou( even plan of the FIu Tsung-nan* brigand army to "demolish" the nerve standing out the courtyard. Chairman stayed the centre of ou( Party was foiled time after time, and defeat pressed in Mao in closer to Bandit Hu step by step! innermost room. After we put in a rickety willow-wood table, there was no space left for any other furniture. Vice-Chairman Chou and Comrade Lu Ting-yi slept on an earthen kang bed neat Sharing Thick and Thin the door and shared a little kang table. But the table was much too small for both of them to work on at the same time, In April, the organizations of the Centtal Committee moved so Vice-Chairman Chou found a tree stump section which he to !(angchiawan in Chingpien County. Nestling halfway up the cushioned with his padded iacket and sat on that, resting his side of a mountain, this little village had less than a score of elbows on the earthen stove as he read aod signed memoranda and documents. To the right was a so-called half room, which * Hu Tsung-nan was in the commander-in-chief of the Kunmintalg's ry47 was occupied entirely by an earthen kang bed. ril7hen you stepped "Northwest Hcadquarters for thc Suppression of Bandits" and director of the Northwest Pacification Administration, inside, you couldn't straighten up. Comrade Pi-shih worked and 4 all times they thoLrght others slept in there. Old Man \ffang, our host, felt very apologetic. of first. They never thought of their own personal convelience. He told his family to lencl us another cave, and asked our guards At mealtimes, the leaders were even more considerate, each to help mone out his belongings. On hearing of this, Comrade insisting on eating only the coarsest grain. The Chairman firmly Chiang Ching (then political assistant in the command head- demanded gruel made of flour and elm leaves. Each time quafters office) said to me: Vice- Chairman Chou picked up an elm-leaf muffin, he would say with "Don't move them! He's got a big family-young and old, a chuckle: "Delicious!" Planning and thinking for the people v/omen and kids. How are you going to squeeze them all into of the whole nation day and night under such difficult condi- one cave?" tions, our leaders were always calm, confident and unrufiled; their "It's too crowded in this place," I said. "Eyefi a company spirit of revolutionary optimism constantly inspired and educated headquarters usually gets more space this!" than us, and taught us the great meaning of life! "But conditions are hard at the moment," she replied. "We'(e a lar.ge orgaflization Moving into a little village like this, we've akeady caused the local people enough trouble. The Chairman has instructed us that when we run into difficulties we should The People Ate Our Wall of Bronze think of ways to solve them. Ife isn't going to like it if we put too much stress on his cotnfort. Besides, we have to think For ten years or more, thc people of northern Shensi Provincc what impression this might make on the people." $ had been living a peaceful settled life. Not having known the The two and a half rooms wcre connected, and you used one alarms o[ war thcmselves, at first they took things rather casually. entrancc. In spite of thc fact that our leaders lived in such '$Thenever our march came to a nerr placc, Chaitman Mao would cramped quartcrs, except when therc was a meeting going on, call the village cadres to a meeting. Sometimes he would also sum- Chaitman always went and you never heard a sound. The in mon the secretary of the district Communist Party committee to out softly, careful not to disturb the others. Late at night, check what preparations were being made for battle, and would tired from too much work, he might occasionally go out for a mobilize the people to conceal any implements or crops that could stroll. If another leader happened to be resting at the time, be used by the enemy. He also gave the guards squad a task. Chairman Mao wouldn't cven turn on his flashlight. It was the No nratter where we stopped, the first thing we had to do after same with the othcrs. Vice-Chaitman Chou, who got up early removing the saddle-bags from the horses was to go out and do in ihe morning, ',vould go outside when he wanted to cough. propaganda among the people, get to know the conditions of Comrades Pi-shih and Ting-yi, who used to get up ea(ly too, their production and livelihood, as well as the size of the popula- would take their breakfast in thc shed where the guards were tion and the number of families, how much land was cultivated billeted, rather than let the clink of crockery disturb other peo- and what taxes v/ere paid - and report it all back. Because ple's rest. This spirit of mutual care and consideration among Chairman Mao kept after us, this had akeady become a customary our leaders made a deep unforgettable impression upon us. At part of our work.