One Leaf in Party History: Mao Zedong's Letters Show Family Style

As the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries, Mao Zedong formed a fine family style in the practice of Chinese revolution and construction. He is exemplary in tutoring and family style and has many things to learn from.

Limited by the conditions of the war, Mao Anying and Mao Anqing could not live with Mao Zedong all the time, so most of Mao Zedong's early teachings to them were completed through letters. On January 31, 1941, in his letter to Mao Anying and Mao Anqing, Mao Zedong put forward unique and incisive views on their learning and development direction, full of ways to teach their children to become talents.

The second paragraph of the letter begins, "You have grown and are very happy. Shore's English is smooth, his handwriting is not bad, and he has the ambition to make progress, which is very good ". This is the affirmation and praise of the learning achievements, and then put forward some suggestions, "the only thing I suggest to you is to learn more from natural science while you are still young... Only science is true knowledge, which will be of infinite use in the future". This reflects a father's ardent expectations for his children's learning, hoping that they will learn knowledge well and lay a solid foundation for future life. At the same time, Mao Zedong taught his children to pay attention to the methods and contents of reading, hoping that they would grasp the key points in different periods, which not only reflected his high attention to scientific knowledge, but also reflected his dialectical thought.

In view of the special status of Mao Zedong's son, the letter reminds, "people compliment you and flatter you, which has the same advantage, that is, to encourage you to make progress; but there is the same disadvantage, that is, it is easy to grow complacent, get carried away, and have the danger of not knowing how to be down-to-earth and seeking truth from facts". Mao Zedong hoped that his children would treat the praise of others correctly, so as not to breed complacency at the time of progress. At the end of the paragraph, he said, "your future, good or bad, depends on yourself and your direct environment. I don't want to interfere with you. my opinions are only regarded as suggestions and are decided by your own consideration". The growth of children depends on their own efforts, and the initiative is in their own hands. As a father, Mao Zedong provided only suggestions and only for consideration. Mao Zedong put himself in an equal position with his children and communicated with them, which can be regarded as a model of modern education.

As a great revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong's demands on his children have always been closely linked to the cause of the Party and the people. On October 8, 1947, he said in a letter to Mao Anying: "No matter what a person studies or does, as long as he has enthusiasm and perseverance, he does not have the kind of individualistic vanity that is not in line with the interests of the people. There will always be progress. "Mao Anying transcribed his father's words as a motto in his notebook, always motivating himself to live up to his father's expectations.

Good family culture good style. Nowadays, the construction of family tutoring and family style has become an important topic for the whole society. Mao Zedong has set an example for us in this regard, which has important practical significance for the masses, especially leading cadres, to promote and cultivate good family style.

December 4, 2017 Source: People's Daily