Chapter 40 A Letter to He Ganzhi[1] Regarding the Study of Ethnic History

(January 17, 1939) Comrade Do: I am very happy to read your letter.Not many of our comrades have the interest and determination to study Chinese history. Comrade Chen Boda[2] in Yan’an is doing research in this area, and you are thinking about doing national history. This is very good. I hope you will do it earnestly. .I have no ambition. I want to collect materials on China's war history, but I haven't started yet.I don't have enough tools. This year I can only do research on tools, namely philosophy, economics, and Leninism. I will focus on philosophy. I plan to study modern history in the future. I hope you can give me more advice.

I think your three attitudes in studying ethnic history are correct, especially the second attitude.If you can prove in your book which of the two lines of national resistance and national surrender is right and who is wrong, and denounce a group of national capitulationists in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Southern Song Dynasty, late Ming Dynasty, and late Qing Dynasty, and praise those national resistanceists It is helpful for the current Anti-Japanese War.There is only one point: we should adopt an attitude of disapproval of the aggressive policies of "combining the weak to attack the ignorant" and "great achievements" (this has happened in Chinese history), and not confuse it with the policy of active resistance.Attacking for the sake of resistance is not within the scope of aggression, such as the cause of Banchao[3] in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

When your two new books [4] are published, I hope you will pay me one each.Congratulations on your efforts! Mao Zedong January 17 According to the "Selected Letters of Mao Zedong" published by People's Publishing House in 1983. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] He Ganzhi (1905-1969), a native of Taishan, Guangdong.At that time, he was a professor and the director of the teaching and research section of Chinese issues at Northern Shaanxi Public School. [2] Chen Boda (1904-1989), a native of Huian, Fujian.At that time, he worked in the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

[3] Ban Chao (32-102), a native of Fufeng Anling (now part of Xianyang City), a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty.He fought in the Western Regions for 31 years, forcing the Xiongnu to move westward and eliminating the threat of the Huns to the Han Dynasty. [4] Refers to He Ganzhi's "China's Social and Economic Structure" and "Research on the Three Principles of the People".The former book was published by China Culture Publishing House in March 1939, and the latter book was published by Xinzhong Publishing House in August 1940.