Reply Concerning Ideas for Strengthening Propaganda to International Chinese

With regard to the letters received from Chinese internationals concerning land reform, we should take up an effective strategy to address these issues seriously. Two or three important topics should be chosen from the letters, for which someone will be assigned to assessing the situation. If there are errors, the army and government presence in that region should set them aright. If there are rumors or erroneous reports, the true facts should be made public, so as to expose and destroy the anti-revolutionary constituents, in addition to the slanderous rumors started by fugitive landlords and evil tyrants.

The second issue is as follows: with regard to propagandizing international Chinese about land reform, the Central Committee’s United Front Division has already circulated a PRC Expatriate Affairs Committee propaganda strategy for land reform ideology in Guangdong. We will adhere to this ideology and proceed accordingly. Aside from this, regular victories in our construction efforts and peoples’ living situation are to be broadcast to expatriates.  

Third, the Central Committee’s Expatriate Affairs Committee, in order to counteract the Bandit Jiang's [Jiang Jieshi, or Chiang Kai-shek] rumors, is prepared to assemble a unit of 50 or so individuals to support Chinese international home villages throughout Guangdong Province. The expatriate affairs group will mobilize Chinese internationals’ loved ones to commence the propaganda work by writing letters, etc. An advanced battalion will be sent to the south on 5 March, with the rest of the personnel being sent out soon after 15 May. After that they will be under the command of the South China Sub-Bureau; they will look to you for guidance and leadership.

Fourth, concerning standard propaganda for Chinese internationals, the Expatriate Committee of Guangdong is to be enjoined with full responsibility, with the subcommittee’s propaganda division providing frequent oversight and leadership of their work through the [CCP] Expatriate Committee. The subcommittee is permitted to instate a legitimate operational system in collaboration with other related divisions, supervised by the subcommittee’s propaganda division. The CCP Expatriate Committee has already sent the culture/education office’s deputy leader Xiao Ling and his work group to the south.

The following is the announcement given on 11 February 1952 by the South China Bureau’s propaganda division to the Central Committee’s propaganda division, the United Front Division, and the CCP Expatriate Division:

Recently the People’s Government of Guangdong Province received an overwhelming number of letters from Chinese internationals. A portion is from anti-revolutionary constituents, those fugitive landlords and tyrants, who attack and hideously slander us. But the majority comes from individuals who do not understand our land reform policy. Either that or they have unwittingly or perhaps knowingly become the mouthpieces for landlords’ squawking, due to a few of our region’s cadres perhaps manifesting some shortcomings in the implementation of policy (such as hanging individuals and beating them, unequal treatment, some individuals extorting Chinese internationals’ ordinary finances, etc.), as well as the insufficiency of our propaganda to Chinese internationals, leading them to be roped in by reactionary propaganda and rumors. Therefore we have selectively revealed the letters, sending some in the original form to each local committee and expatriate committee, and many more to prefecture committees, land committees, etc. for inspection, holding them responsible for reflecting the true situation. Upon receipt of each region’s response, we will send you another announcement. We do not have much experience in propagandizing Chinese internationals. Please share your suggestions.

That is all. Respectfully,

The Propaganda Division of the Southern Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee