Inherit and Carry Forward the Fine Tradition of the *Xunwu Investigation*

Investigation and research are a treasured heirloom of our Party. The *Xunwu Investigation*, as a classic work of our Party’s investigation and research, exerted a major influence on opening up the revolutionary path of “encircling the cities from the countryside,” advancing the historical process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and forming the living soul of Mao Zedong Thought — “seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence and self-reliance.” At present, the entire Party is carrying out education and study on thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations of the Central Committee, and improving investigation and research is an important part of this. On the 95th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong’s Xunwu investigation, revisiting this brilliant document and inheriting and carrying forward the fine tradition contained within it is of great significance for doing a good job of investigation and research.

调查研究，是我们党的传家宝。《寻乌调查》作为我们党开展调查研究的经典之作，对于开辟“农村包围城市”革命道路、推进马克思主义中国化历史进程、形成“实事求是、群众路线、独立自主”的毛泽东思想活的灵魂，都产生了重大影响。当前，全党正在开展深入贯彻中央八项规定精神学习教育，改进调查研究是其中重要内容。在毛泽东同志寻乌调查95周年之际，重温这篇光辉文献，继承和弘扬蕴含其中的优良传统，对于做好调查研究工作具有重要意义。

Spare No Effort to Thoroughly Study a Single Place

拼着精力把一个地方研究透彻

Comrade Mao Zedong attached great importance to investigation and research throughout his life, setting an example for the entire Party. 1930 was a peak period for Comrade Mao Zedong’s investigation and research. The *Collected Rural Surveys of Mao Zedong* alone includes as many as eight investigation reports, in addition to one work on the methodology of investigation and research, *Oppose Book Worship*. [1]1 *Oppose Book Worship* (反对本本主义), originally titled *Investigation Work* (调查工作), is a 1930 essay by Mao Zedong arguing against dogmatic reliance on texts and for practical investigation. These investigations and research laid a solid foundation for putting forward the correct ideological line, working methods, principles, and policies at a critical juncture in the Chinese revolution, for opening up, consolidating, and expanding the Central Revolutionary Base Area, and for exploring the correct direction of integrating Marxism with China’s actual conditions.

毛泽东同志一生高度重视调查研究，给全党作出了榜样示范。1930年是毛泽东同志调查研究的高峰期，仅收入《毛泽东农村调查文集》的调查报告，就有8篇之多，另外还有1篇关于调查研究方法论的《反对本本主义》。这些调查研究，为在中国革命紧要关头提出正确的思想路线、工作方法、方针政策，为开辟、巩固和扩大中央革命根据地，为探索马克思主义与中国实际相结合的正确方向，打下了坚实基础。

After the setback of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Comrade Mao Zedong led the uprising troops into the Jinggang Mountains, establishing the nation’s first rural revolutionary base area. Subsequently, he led the Fourth Red Army into southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, opening up new revolutionary base areas. However, during this period, the Fourth Red Army was criticized several times by higher authorities, who believed it had not implemented the policy of developing towards the central cities, that it harbored “concepts of avoidance and dispersal,” and that it practiced “going-in-circles-ism.” They demanded that it “change its line, expand vigorously, and develop aggressively outward.” This prompted Comrade Mao Zedong to deeply ponder an extremely important question: how could all errors of opportunism and putschism be prevented, and the task of winning over the masses and defeating the enemy be accomplished? He believed that it was necessary to make earnest practical investigations in order to wash away idealist thinking. To depart from the investigation of actual circumstances was to fall into the deep pit of utopianism and putschism.

秋收起义失利后，毛泽东同志率领起义部队挺进井冈山，创立了全国第一个农村革命根据地，此后又率领红四军出击赣南、闽西，开辟新的革命根据地。但在此期间，红四军几次受到上级批评，认为他们没有贯彻向着中心城市发展的方针，存在“躲避和分散的观念”，是“兜圈子主义”，要求他们“转变路线，猛烈地扩大，急进地向外发展”。这就促使毛泽东同志深入思考一个极端重要的问题：怎样才能防止一切机会主义盲动主义错误出现，完成争取群众战胜敌人的任务？他认为，必须努力作实际调查，才能洗刷唯心精神。离开了实际情况的调查，就要堕入空想和盲动的深坑。

There was no ready-made answer for how to carry out the agrarian revolution in the revolutionary base areas of southern Jiangxi and western Fujian. Solving this problem required investigation and research into the social structure, land conditions, urban-rural relations, and class relations of the region. In April 1930, some chaos that emerged after the Fourth Red Army captured Xinfeng County prompted Comrade Mao Zedong to hasten relevant investigations. At that time, influenced by “Left” erroneous thinking, the Red Army mechanically applied the practice of confiscating the property of landlords in the countryside to the cities, confiscating the property of many shops in Xinfeng City. This caused shops to close and merchants to stop trading, triggering panic among urban residents. Urban poor who lost their jobs also felt dissatisfied, and the reactionaries used this as a pretext to wildly spread rumors and attack the Communist Party. In May 1930, the Fourth Red Army captured Xunwu. With the assistance of Gu Bai, the Xunwu County Party Secretary, Comrade Mao Zedong, adopting the attitude of “sparing no effort to thoroughly study a single place,” vigorously conducted investigation and research in Xunwu County.

赣南、闽西革命根据地如何进行土地革命，是没有现成答案的，解决这个问题，就要对该地区的社会结构、土地状况、城乡关系、阶级关系等进行调查研究。1930年4月，红四军攻克信丰县城后出现的一些混乱，促使毛泽东同志抓紧进行相关调查。当时受“左”倾错误思想影响，红军把在农村没收地主财产的做法照搬到城里，把信丰城里多家商店的财物予以没收，一度造成店铺停业、商人停市，引起市区居民的恐慌，城市贫民因失去工作也感到不满，反动派以此为口实大肆造谣攻击共产党。1930年5月，红四军攻占寻乌。经寻乌县委书记古柏协助，毛泽东同志以“拼着精力把一个地方研究透彻”的态度，在寻乌县大力进行调查研究。

The main method of this investigation was holding investigation forums, which lasted for over ten days. The atmosphere of the forums was relaxed and harmonious. Comrade Mao Zedong raised questions and asked people from all walks of life in Xunwu to provide answers, encouraging everyone to speak freely and without reservation. In addition to holding investigation forums, he also conducted numerous visits, going to many shops in the county town, such as grocery stores, tofu shops, and barbershops, to ask shop owners and workers about their business conditions. He went to the market to learn in detail about the market prices of rice, firewood, pork, piglets, chickens and ducks, bamboo and wood utensils, vegetables, fish, sugar, and fruit, and made records. He also went to the countryside near the county town to investigate land relations, the conditions of exploitation, the political thinking of landlords, the attitudes of poor peasants towards rich peasants, the masses’ demands for land, and so on.

这次调查的主要方式是开调查会，开了10多天，调查会的气氛轻松和谐，毛泽东同志提出问题，请寻乌各界人士给予解答，鼓励每个人都畅所欲言、毫无保留。除了开调查会外，他还进行了大量的走访活动，到县城的杂货店、豆腐店、理发店等多家店铺，向店主、店里的工人了解经营情况。他到圩场上去详细了解米、柴火、猪肉、猪子、鸡鸭、竹木器、小菜、鱼、糖、水果等行情，并做好记录，还到县城附近的农村了解土地关系、剥削状况、地主的政治思想、贫农对地主富农的态度、群众对土地的诉求，等等。

In May 1930, Comrade Mao Zedong led the Fourth Red Army to Xunwu County (now Xunwu County) in Jiangxi Province, conducting a comprehensive and detailed investigation of the political, economic, cultural, and social conditions, as well as the history and current situation of various classes. This later resulted in the *Xunwu Investigation*, a text of over 80,000 characters, which can be regarded as a model work of investigation and research by our Party. The picture shows the stone inscription at the Mao Zedong Xunwu Investigation Memorial Hall in Xunwu County. Photo provided by the Xunwu County Converged Media Center.

1930年5月，毛泽东同志率红四军来到江西省寻邬县（今寻乌县），对这里的政治、经济、文化、社会各阶级的历史和现状等情况作了全面细致的调查，后来形成8万多字的《寻乌调查》一文，堪称我党开展调查研究的典范之作。图为寻乌县毛泽东寻乌调查纪念馆的碑刻。 寻乌县融媒体中心供图

In February 1931, Comrade Mao Zedong compiled the results of this investigation into the *Xunwu Investigation*, a text of over 80,000 characters, in Xiaobu Town, Ningdu. While conducting the Xunwu investigation, he also wrote the article *Investigation Work* (later renamed *Oppose Book Worship*), which can be seen as a theoretical distillation of the practice of the Xunwu investigation.

1931年2月，毛泽东同志在宁都的小布镇把这次调查的成果整理为8万多字的《寻乌调查》。在进行寻乌调查的同时，他还撰写了《调查工作》（后改名为《反对本本主义》）一文，可以看作是对寻乌调查实践的理论升华。

Through this period of investigation and reflection, Comrade Mao Zedong put forward major propositions such as “the victory of the Chinese revolutionary struggle depends on Chinese comrades understanding Chinese conditions” and “Marxist ‘books’ must be studied, but they must be integrated with China’s actual conditions,” demonstrating the revolutionary pioneering spirit of opening up new paths and creating new theories. It provided important empirical evidence for the later formation of the agrarian revolutionary line of “relying on the poor peasants and farm laborers, uniting with the middle peasants, restricting the rich peasants, eliminating the landlord class, and transforming feudal land ownership into peasant land ownership.” The detailed understanding of the class relations and economic conditions of small cities provided an important basis for formulating correct urban policies and clarifying the forces to rely on, the targets to win over, the targets of the revolution, and economic policies in the cities.

经过这段时间的调查和思考，毛泽东同志提出了“中国革命斗争的胜利要靠中国同志了解中国情况”、“马克思主义的‘本本’是要学习的，但是必须同我国的实际情况相结合”等重大命题，表现了开辟新道路、创造新理论的革命首创精神；为后来形成“依靠贫农、雇农，联合中农，限制富农，消灭地主阶级，变封建土地所有制为农民土地所有制”的土地革命路线提供了重要实证；对小城市的阶级关系、经济状况的详尽了解，为制定正确的城市政策，明确在城市的依靠力量、争取对象、革命对象以及经济政策提供了重要依据。

Only Correct Investigation Gives the Right to Speak

要做正确的调查才有发言权

In *Oppose Book Worship*, Comrade Mao Zedong put forward the idea that “no investigation, no right to speak.” A year later, while drafting the *Notice of the General Political Department on Investigating Population and Land Conditions*, he further proposed that “without correct investigation, there is likewise no right to speak.” The Xunwu investigation is a model of “correct investigation.”

毛泽东同志在《反对本本主义》里提出，“没有调查，没有发言权”。一年后在起草《总政治部关于调查人口和土地状况的通知》时又进一步提出，“不做正确的调查同样没有发言权”。寻乌调查就是“正确的调查”的典范。

The Xunwu investigation had a clear purpose. The *Xunwu Investigation* states very clearly: “When I did not yet have a comprehensive understanding of the rich peasant question in China, and at the same time I was completely a layman regarding commercial conditions, I made great efforts to conduct this investigation.” Problem awareness is the starting point for doing a good job of investigation and research. A random, boundless investigation without a specific focus is like a blind man riding a blind horse or approaching a deep pool at midnight; it has little practical significance for the Party’s work and may instead bring harm. Only with clear, specific problems and objectives can one accurately determine the objects, scope, and focus of investigation and research, and truly clarify the situation, identify the crux of the problem, and propose practical countermeasures.

寻乌调查有明确的目的。《寻乌调查》里写得很清楚，“关于中国的富农问题我还没有全般了解的时候，同时我对于商业状况是完全的门外汉，因此下大力来做这个调查”。问题意识是做好调查研究的起点，那种没有具体指向的漫无边际的随意调查，如同盲人骑瞎马、夜半临深池，对于党的工作没有多少实际意义，反而可能带来危害。有明确的具体的问题和目标，才能精准地确定调查研究的对象、范围、重点，才能真正把情况摸清、把症结找准、把对策提实。

The Xunwu investigation selected representative research subjects. Investigation and research is like dissecting a sparrow, but in practical work it is impossible to dissect all sparrows; one can only dissect one or two, finding universal laws from the particular. This requires that the selected “sparrow” must be representative. Xunwu is located in southeastern Jiangxi, bordering Fujian and Guangdong, and is a settlement area for Hakka people. The politics, economy, culture, education, and social customs of Xunwu represented the conditions of a large area covering southern Jiangxi, western Fujian, and northern Guangdong. Understanding the situation in Xunwu essentially meant understanding the general situation of dozens of counties in this area, which were precisely the main areas of Red Army activity at the time. Dissecting this “sparrow” of Xunwu was of great significance for the agrarian revolutionary struggle in this region.

寻乌调查选择了具有代表性的调研对象。调查研究就像解剖麻雀，但实际工作中不可能把所有的麻雀统统捉来解剖一遍，只能解剖一两只，从个别中找出一般的普遍性的规律。这就要求选择的“麻雀”必须有代表性。寻乌地处江西东南部，与福建、广东接壤，为客家人聚居地。寻乌的政治、经济、文化、教育、社会风俗等代表了赣南、闽西、粤北一大片区域的情况。搞清楚了寻乌的情况，实际上也就基本上搞清楚了这片区域几十个县的大体情况，而这些县正是当时红军活动的主要地区。解剖寻乌这只“麻雀”，对于这一区域的土地革命斗争具有十分重要的作用。

The Xunwu Investigation truly achieved hearing the truth and observing the actual situation. Being unable to hear the truth is a major taboo in investigation and research. Comrade Mao Zedong once wrote: “If the masses do not speak the truth, it is because they do not know whether your intentions are beneficial to them. During the process of conversation and making friends, you must give them some time to feel out your heart, gradually enabling them to understand your true intentions, to regard you as a good friend, and only then can you investigate and find out the real situation. If the masses do not speak the truth, do not blame the masses, only blame yourself.” [2]2 The Xunwu Investigation (寻乌调查) was a landmark social survey conducted by Mao Zedong in Xunwu County, Jiangxi Province, in 1930, during the early period of the Chinese Communist Party's rural base-building. It is celebrated in Party historiography as a model of the "mass line" and of "seeking truth from facts." The interlocutors he found in Xunwu, who provided him with a large amount of material, were four people: Guo Youmei, a 59-year-old general store owner; Fan Daming, a 51-year-old staff member of the county Soviet government; Zhao Jingqing, a 30-year-old member of the county Soviet government committee; and Liu Liangfan, a 27-year-old chairman of the township Soviet government. Others who provided material included a poor peasant who had served as a member of the district Soviet government committee, an old Qing dynasty examination candidate who had never passed, a township Soviet government committee member who had done small business, a young normal school graduate who served as chairman of the district Soviet government, and so on. The ages, backgrounds, and occupations of these people were all different. Comrade Mao Zedong treated them with great respect, was cordial and amiable, and conversed with them as equals, enabling these people to provide first-hand information that had not been “filtered” or “screened.” Listening to both sides gives light, listening only to one side gives darkness. [3]3 “As soon as they get off the official carriage” (下车伊始) is a classical Chinese idiom referring to a newly arrived official who immediately starts issuing orders without understanding local conditions. Mao Zedong used this phrase in his 1930 essay “Oppose Book Worship” (反对本本主义) to criticize dogmatism and hasty decision-making. Being adept at creating an atmosphere where the masses can speak the truth is a kind of political breadth of mind and also a kind of political wisdom.

寻乌调查真正做到了听真话、察实情。听不到真话是调查研究的大忌。毛泽东同志曾写道：“群众不讲真话，是因为他们不知道你的来意究竟是否于他们有利。要在谈话过程中和做朋友的过程中，给他们一些时间摸索你的心，逐渐地让他们能够了解你的真意，把你当做好朋友看，然后才能调查出真情况来。群众不讲真话，不怪群众，只怪自己。”他在寻乌找的谈话对象，给他提供大量材料的有4个人：59岁的杂货店主郭友梅、51岁的县苏维埃政府职员范大明、30岁的县苏维埃政府委员赵镜清、27岁的乡苏维埃政府主席刘亮凡。其他提供过材料的还有曾任区苏维埃政府委员的贫农，清朝老童生，做过小生意的乡苏维埃政府委员，担任区苏维埃政府主席的年轻师范生，等等。这些人的年龄、出身、职业各不相同，毛泽东同志对他们十分尊重，亲切和蔼，平等对谈，使这些人提供了没有经过“过滤”和“筛选”的第一手信息。兼听则明，偏听则暗。善于营造让人民群众说真话的氛围，是一种政治胸襟，也是一种政治智慧。

The Xunwu Investigation grasped the principal aspect of the contradiction and emphasized the systematic nature of material collection. The *Xunwu Investigation* highlighted two focal points: one was the commercial operations of the city, and the other was the old rural land relations and the land struggle. Regarding commerce, Comrade Mao Zedong investigated in detail the operating conditions, personnel composition, and internal relations of shops dealing in salt, groceries, oil, beans, butcher shops, wine, aquatic products, medicinal herbs, yellow tobacco, tailoring, umbrellas, woodenware, inns, tofu, barbering, blacksmithing, firecrackers, jewelry making, tin-smithing, clock repair, and so on. This undoubtedly had great reference value for formulating correct strategies toward the urban commercial bourgeoisie and winning over the urban poor. Regarding old land relations and the land struggle, Comrade Mao Zedong exerted greater effort and wrote more extensively. On old land relations, he analyzed one by one the specific methods of three categories and 23 forms of exploitation—land rent exploitation, usury exploitation, and tax and levy exploitation—and their harm to the poor peasants. On the land struggle, he investigated in detail the distribution of land, mountain forests, ponds, and houses by the Xunwu County Revolutionary Committee, as well as the abolition of debts, the land tax, the women’s issue, and so on in the countryside, which played an important role in later formulating the correct line for the agrarian revolution. If investigation and research fail to grasp the principal contradiction and the principal aspect of the contradiction, the materials obtained will either be comprehensive but superficial, touching only the surface, or be fragmentary and scattered, offering little help in observing the actual situation and making decisions.

寻乌调查抓住矛盾的主要方面，重视材料收集的系统性。《寻乌调查》突出了两个重点，一个是城市的商业经营，一个是农村旧的土地关系和土地斗争。对于商业，毛泽东同志详细了解了盐、杂货、油、豆、屠坊、酒、水货、药材、黄烟、裁缝、伞、木器、火店、豆腐、理发、打铁、爆竹、打首饰、打洋铁、修钟表等店铺的经营状况、人员构成、内部关系，这对于制定正确对待商业资产阶级和争取城市贫民的策略，无疑极具参考价值。对旧土地关系和土地斗争，毛泽东同志着力更大、着墨更多。在旧土地关系上，他一一剖析了地租剥削、高利剥削、税捐剥削等3类23种形式的具体手法及其对贫民的伤害；在土地斗争上，他详细了解了寻乌县革命委员会对于土地、山林、池塘、房屋的分配情况，以及农村的废债、土地税、妇女问题等，为后来制定正确的土地革命路线发挥了重要作用。调查研究如果不能抓住主要矛盾和矛盾的主要方面，得到的材料要么是面面俱到、蜻蜓点水，要么是东鳞西爪、支离破碎，对于察实情、作决策帮助有限。

The Xunwu Investigation was adept at refining and summarizing an understanding of regularities. When Comrade Mao Zedong wrote the *Xunwu Investigation*, he did not merely organize the materials collected in the early stage in a general way. Instead, through in-depth research and reflection, he systematized scattered materials, deepened superficial understanding, and turned apparent conclusions into regularities. This became a major highlight of the investigation report. For example, what was the essence of old social relations? Through the investigation of exploitation, the report concluded: “cannibalistic relations.” [4] Another example: regarding the understanding of the landlord class, the investigation found that the majority of the small landlord class, economically eroded by capitalism and squeezed by the big and middle landlords, was going bankrupt very severely and increasingly accepting the guidance of proletarian consciousness. Another example: regarding the peasants’ opposition to using large areas as units for land distribution, the investigation pointed out that “the view that the peasants’ localism is due to their outdated thinking, that is, acknowledging it as a psychological cause and not acknowledging it as an economic cause, is incorrect.” Without comprehensive analysis of the materials—discarding the dross and selecting the essential, eliminating the false and retaining the true, proceeding from the one to the other and from the surface to the core—it is impossible to elevate the perceptual knowledge gained in investigation into rational knowledge and grasp the regularities.

寻乌调查善于提炼总结规律性认识。毛泽东同志在撰写《寻乌调查》时，对于前期收集的材料不是一般性地进行整理，而是通过深入研究和思考，把零散的材料系统化，把粗浅的认识深刻化，把表象的结论规律化，这成为调查报告的一大亮点。比如，旧的社会关系的本质是什么？报告中通过对剥削的调查给出结论：“吃人关系”。再如，对地主阶级的认识，通过调查发现，小地主阶级的大多数在经济上受资本主义侵蚀和大中地主压榨而破产得非常厉害，日益接受无产阶级意识的指导。又如，对于农民反对用大的区域为单位分配土地，通过调查指出，“那种以为农民的地方主义是由于农民的思想陈旧，即承认是心理的原因，不承认是经济的原因，是不对的”。不对材料进行去粗取精、去伪存真、由此及彼、由表及里的综合分析，是不能把调查中获得的感性认识上升为理性认识、把握规律的。

Investigation and research are the foundation for planning affairs and the way to accomplish things. The picture shows on May 14, 2025, discipline inspection and supervision cadres from Luliang County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, visiting potato growers in Pule Village, Xiaobaihu Town, to understand the relevant situation of the development of the rural revitalization industry. People’s Picture, photo by Wang Yong.

调查研究是谋事之基、成事之道。图为2025年5月14日，云南省曲靖市陆良县纪检监察干部在小百户镇普乐村走访马铃薯种植户，了解乡村振兴产业发展相关情况。 人民图片 王勇/摄

Investigation and research are the foundation for Communists to plan affairs and the way to accomplish things. They are the source of genuine knowledge and insight and the basic skill for doing work well. It must be noted that one must adhere to correct investigation and research and oppose formalistic investigation and research. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly made profound expositions on opposing formalistic investigation and research, pointing out: “Investigation and research must never engage in formalism, must not engage in ‘dragonfly skimming the water’ style research that is superficial and where the person arrives but the heart does not, must not engage in ‘imperial envoy’ style research where more instructions are given and less advice is humbly sought, must not engage in ‘being researched’ where the initiative in research is lost and one’s agency is surrendered, and must not engage in ‘preferring the rich and disliking the poor’ style research where more research is done in places with outstanding work achievements and less in places with complex situations and prominent contradictions.” To do correct investigation and research, one must set aside airs, get down to the grassroots, stay grounded, and understand the situation below. One must go both to places with good work situations and advanced areas to sum up experience, and to places where the masses have many complaints, to places where work is poorly done, to places with many difficulties, complex situations, and sharp contradictions to conduct investigation and research, truly focusing effort on observing the actual situation, coming up with practical measures, doing practical things, and achieving practical results.

调查研究是共产党人的谋事之基、成事之道，是获得真知灼见的源头活水，是做好工作的基本功。需要注意的是，一定要坚持正确的调查研究，反对形式主义的调查研究。习近平总书记多次就反对形式主义的调查研究作出深刻论述，指出，“调查研究千万不能搞形式主义，不能搞浮光掠影、人到心不到的‘蜻蜓点水’式调研，不能搞做指示多、虚心求教少的‘钦差’式调研，不能搞调研自主性差、丧失主动权的‘被调研’，不能搞到工作成绩突出的地方调研多、到情况复杂和矛盾突出的地方调研少的‘嫌贫爱富’式调研”。做正确的调查研究，就要放下架子、扑下身子，接地气、通下情，既到工作局面好和先进的地方去总结经验，又到群众意见多的地方去，到工作做得差的地方去，到困难较多、情况复杂、矛盾尖锐的地方去调查研究，真正把功夫下到察实情、出实招、办实事、求实效上。

Take the people as teachers, be willing to be a primary school student

拜人民为师，甘当小学生

The Xunwu Investigation was a vivid practice that concentratedly embodied the Party’s fine tradition. The Party’s three fine traditions—integrating theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses, and practicing criticism and self-criticism—were summarized at the Party’s Seventh National Congress. [5] However, in the long-term practice of the revolutionary struggle before the Seventh Congress, these fine traditions had been sprouting, growing, and expanding. During the Xunwu Investigation period, Comrade Mao Zedong’s approach of being thorough, seeking truth from facts, and respecting the masses wrote a brilliant page in the cultivation and development of the Party’s fine traditions, especially in the aspects of “integrating theory with practice” and “maintaining close ties with the masses.”

寻乌调查是一次集中体现党的优良作风的生动实践。党的三大优良作风——理论联系实际、密切联系群众、批评和自我批评，是在党的七大上概括的，但在七大之前的长期革命斗争实践中，这些优良作风一直在萌芽、生长、壮大。在寻乌调查期间，毛泽东同志深入、唯实、尊重群众的做法，在党的优良作风的培育和发展上，特别是在“理论联系实际”和“密切联系群众”方面，书写了浓墨重彩的一页。

Leafing through the *Xunwu Investigation*, the greatest impression one gets is the character “shi” (实, meaning solid, real, practical). The names, prices, profits and losses of various goods; the numbers, proportions, and political attitudes of different groups of people—all are dazzling. The report analyzes one by one the county’s 8 first-class big landlords, 12 big landlords, and 113 middle landlords, and explains that the reason for listing them one by one is “in order to study the political role of this class; without listing them, there would be no sufficient concrete evidence.” Regarding the exploitation situation in the countryside, Comrade Mao Zedong not only investigated in detail but also classified and made unique discoveries. How important these solid figures and actual conditions are for formulating policies!

翻阅《寻乌调查》，给人最大的感受就是一个“实”字。一种种货品的名目、价格、盈亏，不同人群的数量、占比、政治态度，令人目不暇接。报告里对全县8个头等大地主、12个大地主、113个中地主逐一分析，并解释这样逐一列出的原因是“为的要研究这个阶级的政治作用，不列出来便没有充实的例证”。对于农村的剥削状况，毛泽东同志不仅调查详细，而且分门别类、有独到发现。这些扎扎实实的数字、实情，对于制定政策何其重要！

The more truthful and accurate the grasp of the situation, the stronger the support it can provide for correct decision-making. Taking one more step, looking one more time, asking one more question, and thinking one more layer during research will yield vastly different gains. General Secretary Xi Jinping, recalling the decision-making process for proposing the “

对情况掌握得越真实、越准确，就越能为正确决策提供有力支撑。调研中多走一步、多看一眼、多问一句、多想一层，得到的收获都会大为不同。习近平总书记回忆在浙江工作提出“八八战略”的决策时谈道：“我到浙江当省委书记以后，全部县市区走遍了，之后对浙江发展提出了‘八八战略’，就是发挥八个方面优势、采取八个方面举措。这是什么？这就是要亲自摸清吃透情况，掌握第一手材料。”领导干部要勇于听真话、善于察实情，走出舒适区、直面真问题，以真破伪、以实破虚，把求真务实的作风发扬光大。

In the Xunwu Investigation, respect for the masses of the people is everywhere reflected. Comrade Mao Zedong once wrote with deep feeling, "These cadres, peasants, scholars, jailers, merchants and tax clerks are my beloved teachers; I must be their student with respectful diligence and adopt a comradely attitude, otherwise they would ignore me, knowing something but not saying it, or saying it without telling the whole story"; "Without a full heart of fervor, without the determination to look downward, without a thirst for knowledge, and without the spirit of setting aside the stinking airs of authority and willingly being a primary-school pupil, one certainly cannot do it, and certainly cannot do it well. It must be understood: the masses are the true heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ridiculous; without understanding this, one cannot acquire even the most basic knowledge."

在寻乌调查中，处处体现着对人民群众的尊重。毛泽东同志曾深有感触地写道，“这些干部、农民、秀才、狱吏、商人和钱粮师爷，就是我的可敬爱的先生，我给他们当学生是必须恭谨勤劳和采取同志态度的，否则他们就不理我，知而不言，言而不尽”；“没有满腔的热忱，没有眼睛向下的决心，没有求知的渴望，没有放下臭架子、甘当小学生的精神，是一定不能做，也一定做不好的。必须明白：群众是真正的英雄，而我们自己则往往是幼稚可笑的，不了解这一点，就不能得到起码的知识”。

To conduct investigation and research is to follow the mass line. It is easy to step over the threshold of the masses’ homes, but not so easy to step into their hearts. General Secretary Xi Jinping, drawing

开展调查研究就是走群众路线，走进群众的门槛容易，但走进群众的心坎不易。习近平总书记曾以自己的切身体会谆谆叮嘱县委书记们：“我在正定时经常骑着自行车下乡，从滹沱河北岸到滹沱河以南的公社去，每次骑到滹沱河沙滩就得扛着自行车走。虽然辛苦一点，但确实摸清了情况，同基层干部和老百姓拉近了距离、增进了感情。”尊重群众不是一句口号，而是根本立场。如果在群众面前端架子、抱成见，必然疏远与群众的感情、僵化与群众的关系。

Investigation and research are means; the goal is to solve problems. Comrade Mao Zedong once criticized those who, “as soon as they get off the official carriage,” start chattering away with opinions, and he believed that nine out of ten such people would fail. [3]3 “As soon as they get off the official carriage” (下车伊始) is a classical Chinese idiom referring to a newly arrived official who immediately starts issuing orders without understanding local conditions. Mao Zedong used this phrase in his 1930 essay “Oppose Book Worship” (反对本本主义) to criticize dogmatism and hasty decision-making. Nowadays, some people, “as soon as they get off the official carriage,” not only chatter away with opinions but also make snap decisions. Without conducting thorough investigation and research, without extensively listening to opinions and suggestions, and without in-depth thinking and comparison, they hope to produce achievements that will attract the attention and praise of their superiors. I fear that nine out of ten such people will likewise fail.

调查研究是手段，目的是解决问题。毛泽东同志曾经批评一些人“下车伊始”就哇喇哇喇地发议论，认为这种人十个有十个要失败。现在有些人“下车伊始”，不但哇喇哇喇地发议论，还噼里啪啦地拍板决策。不做周密调查研究，不广泛听取意见建议，不深入思考比较，就希望作出引起上级关注赞赏的成绩，这种人恐怕同样十个有十个要失败。

To know the road ahead, one must look at the road behind. Looking at the road behind means summing up experience. Reviewing the course of our Party’s development, we can clearly see that whenever the entire Party, from top to bottom, valued, insisted on, and strengthened investigation and research, and the Party’s work decisions and guiding principles conformed to objective reality, the Party’s cause developed smoothly. Conversely, neglecting investigation and research, or conducting it insufficiently, often led to subjective understanding detaching from objective reality and the will of the leadership detaching from the wishes of the masses, thereby causing decision-making errors and inflicting losses on the Party’s cause. As we review this past event of Comrade Mao Zedong’s Xunwu investigation, our purpose is to vigorously inherit and promote the fine tradition contained within it, to promote the broad masses of Party members, cadres, and especially leading cadres to take the lead in conducting in-depth investigation and research, to continuously deepen their understanding and grasp of the Party’s innovative theory, to be adept at using the Party’s innovative theory to study new situations, solve new problems, sum up new experiences, and explore new laws, and to better serve scientific decision-making, serve the improvement of the Party’s governing capacity and leadership level, and serve the fulfillment of the missions and tasks of the New Era and the new journey.

欲知前路，须看来路。看来路，就是总结经验。回顾我们党的发展历程可以清楚地看到，什么时候全党从上到下重视并坚持和加强调查研究，党的工作决策和指导方针符合客观实际，党的事业就顺利发展；而忽视调查研究或者调查研究不够，往往导致主观认识脱离客观实际、领导意志脱离群众愿望，从而造成决策失误，使党的事业蒙受损失。我们回顾毛泽东同志寻乌调查的这段往事，就是要大力继承和弘扬蕴含其中的优良传统，促进广大党员、干部特别是领导干部带头深入调查研究，不断深化对党的创新理论的认识和把握，善于运用党的创新理论研究新情况、解决新问题、总结新经验、探索新规律，更好为科学决策服务，为提高党的执政能力和领导水平服务，为完成新时代新征程的使命任务服务。

(Author: Director of the Academic and Editorial Committee of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee)

（作者：中共中央党史和文献研究院学术和编审委员会主任）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心