During the Yan'an period, our party attached great importance to the work of receiving international friends and took a number of effective measures to achieve the effect of breaking the shackles of the Kuomintang's propaganda blockade, and positively promoting the Party and border government's anti-Japanese war propositions and achievements in the War of Resistance.
In June 1944, Mao Zedong held a banquet to entertain Chinese and foreign journalists' Northwest Visiting Group
Established a special foreign affairs agency to receive international friends
During the Yan'an period, the Party became the advocate, mobilizer and organizer of the anti-Japanese national united front . With the development and manifestation of the Party’s role in the anti-Japanese national united front, the Party’s political influence is also expanding. In order to adapt to the needs of external liaison and external publicity, the Party has begun to attach great importance to the establishment of specialized foreign affairs institutions. After the
Wayaobao Conference, after brief deliberation and preparation, on January 26, 1936, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Northwest Office of the Central Soviet Government, appoint Bogu as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Wu Xiuquan as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Communications Department; in July, when the Party Central Committee moved to the Security Bureau, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish a liaison bureau and appoint Li Kenong as the director, responsible for united front and external reception. In September 1937, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government was established. Based on the new changes in organizational adjustments and the new characteristics of the development of the domestic and international situation after the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to abolish the original Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Northwest Office of the Central Government of the Soviet Union and change it to the Secretariat under the Executive Committee of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government, directly lead external liaison and external publicity work, and set up a reception section under the Secretariat under the Secretariat to be responsible for the reception of foreign guests. In May 1938, in order to strengthen external work, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region government changed the hospitality department to the communication department. In 1940, the communication department was changed to the communication department. When the Communication Department was first established, there were only 20 people, and when it developed to its peak, there were more than 20 cadres and about 60 staff members. In 1944, during the reception of Chinese and foreign journalists' visiting groups and the US military observation team, the Communication Department also added a research department, a translation department and an administrative department. In March 1947, when the Kuomintang army invaded Yan'an and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to cancel the communication office in order to adapt to the need to switch to northern Shaanxi. From its birth to the end, the Communication Office has received meticulous care and guidance from the main leaders of the Party and the Border Region Government, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others. For example, Mao Zedong once guided the Communication Department to grasp the principle of "seeking truth from facts" when doing propaganda work. He believed that only by treating these foreign guests based on such principles can the Party and the Border Region Government gain the "trust and understanding" of these people. Subsequently, more and more Chinese and foreign guests came to Yan'an, and the staffing components became more and more complex. Under such circumstances, Mao Zedong specifically reminded the Communication Department to be bold and willing to work and be cautious and careful in his work, so that the Communication Department can play its due role. Later, based on Mao Zedong's relevant opinions and propositions, Zhou Enlai formulated a policy of freedom of coming and going for the Communication Office, which is "welcome when you come, and give away when you go, and welcome again when you come again" and other policy strategies.
According to incomplete statistics, from 1937 to 1947, the international friends who have been roughly received in the ten years of existence in the communication office include: Singapore's Sin Chew Daily Overseas Chinese female reporter Huang Wei and Nanyang Business Daily reporter Hu Shouyu, the World Student Union delegation, the International Youth Visiting China delegation, the Overseas Chinese Driver Return Service Group, the Canadian doctor Bethune and his medical team led by him, the Indian doctor Ke Dihua, the Northwest Tour of Chinese and foreign journalists, the US military observation group, the American journalist Anna Louis Strong , etc.
Through visits, visits and inspections in Yan'an, these international friends not only learned about the Party's basic policies during the Yan'an period, but also learned about the basic implementation of the border region government in terms of social construction, and also understood the operating principles and rules of the border region people's representative agencies. This played a very important role in their use of what they saw and heard after leaving Yan'an to publicize the development strategies and policy guidelines of the Party and the border region government, thereby exposing the Kuomintang's slander and false words of the Communist Party.
arranges the main leaders of the Party to receive international friends in person
During the Yan'an period, the Party attached great importance to international friends who came to Yan'an and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region after hardships and unremitting efforts. The main manifestation is that every visitor must arrange for the main leaders of the Party to receive them in person to show the importance and specifications of their visit.
Snow is the first foreign journalist to come to the border area. In July 1936, as soon as he arrived at Ansai , the party first arranged for Zhou Enlai to meet him and planned a 92-day itinerary for him. Then he sent someone to escort him to the security guards where the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at that time. At the security guard, the party arranged a grand welcome ceremony for him. At that time, all members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and more than half of the Central Committee members came forward to greet them. The crowd also showed a striking banner slogan "Welcome American friends to visit the Soviet area of China". Shortly after the welcoming ceremony, Mao Zedong personally came to Snow's residence to visit him in an informal manner. Afterwards, Mao Zedong formally invited Snow to talk to his cave. Mao Zedong knew that this was not just a friend-like exchange between individuals and Snow, but an excellent opportunity to break through the news blockade of Chiang Kai-shek and report the situation of Soviet areas to the whole of China and the world in fairly and truthfully. While in security, Snow met Mao Zedong almost every day. Mao Zedong talked to him very frequently, including diplomacy, internal affairs, coalition government and other issues.
In 1944, in order to obtain accurate military intelligence from North China and Central China, the US government decided to send a military observation team to Yan'an to understand the combat sequence of the Japanese and puppet troops, the combat sequence of the Japanese air force, the Japanese air force, the Japanese airports and air defense forces in northern China, the losses of the Japanese air bombing in central China, the Japanese military's combat operations, the strength, composition, and the operation of the Chinese Communist Party's army, the assessment of the contributions that the Chinese Communist Party can make to the war of resistance, the current expansion of the areas controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, the most effective way to aid the Chinese Communist Party's army to enhance their combat effectiveness, and the estimate of the potential contribution of the Chinese Communist Party's war capabilities. When we learned that the US military observation team had confirmed to come to Yan'an, the Party mobilized Yan'an Party, government, military and civilians to expand and build the originally simple small airport between Qingliangshan and Yanhe in the eastern suburbs of Yan'an; on the other hand, we held a special meeting to discuss the issue of receiving the US military observation team; on the other hand, we established the "Yan'an Military Commission Foreign Affairs Group" headed by Yang Shangkun, Secretary-General of the Military Commission. When the first group of personnel of the observation group arrived at Yan'an Airport, the party arranged for Zhou Enlai to wait at the airport to greet him; when the second group of personnel of the observation group arrived, the party arranged for Mao Zedong and others to go to the airport to greet him in person. In addition, the Party specially arranged senior generals of the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army, including Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying, Chen Yi, , Nie Rongzhen, He Long to introduce and report to the observation team on the comprehensive situation on the battlefield behind enemy lines. Mao Zedong personally carried out external publicity work and personally revised the editorial of the Liberation Daily. In an editorial titled "Welcoming to the comrades of the US Military Observation Group", Mao Zedong highly praised the actions of the US Military Observation Group to Yan'an, believing that this was a major event in the history of the War of Resistance under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Because the achievements of the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army led by the Party and the people in the Anti-Japanese Base Area in the past seven years of China's Anti-Japanese War can finally be understood and recognized by the allies. From then on, "it was already difficult for the Kuomintang to always cover up the sky."
In addition, other international friends or groups who came to Yan'an have been welcomed, treated and received by the Party to varying degrees. During Mao Zedong's interactions with the famous Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, they left a very beautiful impression on each other. Therefore, when Mao Zedong learned of the death of Bethune, he immediately wrote the eulogy "Memorial to Bethune", which later became a household name. Mao Zedong's famous statement that "all reactionaries are paper tigers" was the heroic statement when he met with the famous American journalist Anna Louis Strong. There is no doubt that this sentence, together with Strong himself, has become a classic quote and celebrity that the Chinese people have been familiar with for many years.
(The author is the director of the Institute of Mao Zedong Thought and a second-level professor at Henan University of Science and Technology)
(Original title: Our Party attached great importance to and warmly received international friends during the Yan'an period)
Source: Beijing Daily Author: Zhang Junguo
Process Editor: TF021
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