ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a letter to Xiao Zisheng by his younger schoolmate Mao Zedong in Winter 1915. Mao Zedong stands out as one of the dominant figures of the twentieth century. Guerrilla leader, strategist, conqueror, ruler, poet, and philosopher, he placed his imprint on China, and on the world. Twelve of the twenty surviving texts from the years 1915 and 1916 are letters to Xiao Zisheng, also known as Xiao Xudong and Xiao Yu, who was one of Mao's two most intimate friends during his years at First Normal School. Xiao Zisheng then returned to Changsha to take up a position as principal of the primary school attached to First Normal School. In this letter, he would like to borrow Saving the Nation Through Constitutional Monarchy to read. The cover is to be inscribed with eleven characters reading Painful Words on Current Affairs by the Three Scholars, Tang, Kang, and Liang.
