March 16, 1957
MAO’S HUNDRED FLOWERS: Peking, 16 – According to the Reuters correspondent here, David Chipp, Chinese President Mao Tse-tung has set out a 12-point program to Communist leaders that covers nearly all aspects of Chinese affairs. These directives, which also include recommendations and solutions for current problems and mistakes that have been made, were issued on February 27 when Mao was speaking to a senior state congress. This was revealed during a meeting of the Chinese people’s political advisory congress which began on March 5 and will end on Wednesday. It is not certain whether Mao’s speech, which was titled «On the Handling of Contradictions Among the People,» will ever be published, but one of the points made by the Chinese president was the idea of «letting 100 flowers blossom and 100 schools of thought contend.» Observers in Peking believe that the main issue in Mao’s speech is probably the unity of all Chinese. The issue was also the focus of the political advisory congress in which appeals were made to improve relations between Communists and independents, to give the latter more rights, to abolish discrimination against them and to respect their religious beliefs.
