| Chinese | 小米加步槍[1] |
|---|---|
| Literal meaning | a rifle with bags of millet |
Millet plus rifles (simplified Chinese: 小米加步枪; traditional Chinese: 小米加步槍; pinyin: Xiǎomǐ jiā bùqiāng),[2][3] also known as "Millet and rifles"[4] or "a rifle with bags of millet",[5] was a phrase used by Mao Zedong to describe the materials and supplies of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).[6] The first recorded instance of Mao using this phrase is in a speech he gave at a party meeting in Yan'an. He was recalling a conversation with David D. Barrett, an American military officer sent to observe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces fighting in WWII. When warned that the Americans would support Chiang Kai-Shek against the CCP if they refused to enter into a coalition government, Mao had responded:[7]
If you Americans, sated with bread and sleep, want to curse the people and back Chiang Kai-Shek, that's your business and I won't interfere. What we have now is millet plus rifles, what you have is bread plus cannon. If you like to back Chiang Kai-shek, back him, back him as long as you want. But remember one thing. To whom does China belong? China definitely does not belong to Chiang Kai-shek, China belongs to the Chinese people. The day will surely come when you will find it impossible to back him any longer.
The phrase became well-known in the west after Mao repeated it in an interview with American war correspondent Anna Louise Strong on August 6, 1946.[8] He said:
..Take the case of China. We have only millet plus rifles to rely on, but history will finally prove that our millet plus rifles is more powerful than Chiang Kai-shek's aeroplanes plus tanks...
It reflects Mao's view that the inferior equipment of the PLA was enough to defeat the well-equipped and well-supplied Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers in the Chinese Communist Revolution, since the people of China were behind the communist cause.[9][10] Millet (along with wheat), was the main food source of the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was considered by the soldiers to have been a mediocre foodstuff.[2] Rifles, of course, were the main armament of the Chinese armies of that period, with the CCP mainly using those they acquired from the Soviet Union.[citation needed] The phrase was quickly adopted by the CCP as propaganda to heroize their underdog struggle against the KMT.[11][12]
- ^ Chinese-English Glossary of Current Terms. Commercial Press. 1964. pp. 417–.
- ^ a b Kent G Deng (4 October 2011). China's Political Economy in Modern Times: Changes and Economic Consequences, 1800-2000. Routledge. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-1-136-65513-5.
- ^ Abraham M. Denmark (18 August 2020), U.S. Strategy in the Asian Century: Empowering Allies and Partners, Columbia University Press, pp. 52–, ISBN 978-0-231-55227-1
- ^ James Lilley; David L. Shambaugh (1 July 2016). China's Military Faces the Future. Routledge. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-1-315-50104-8.
- ^ Wei-Chin Lee (October 1, 2003). "China's Military after the Sixteenth Party Congress: Long March to Eternity". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 38 (4–5): 416–446. doi:10.1177/002190960303800406. S2CID 154639394.
- ^ Chinese Publications Service Center. Compilation of Important Historical Documents of the Chinese Communist Party. Service Center for Chinese Publications. pp. 17–.
- ^ Zedong, Mao. "The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan". Marxists.org. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "Talk with the American Correspondent Anna LouiseStrong on August 6, 1946". CCTV.com. 2010-09-15.
- ^ William Hinton; Fred Magdoff (April 2008). Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. New York University Press. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-1-58367-175-7.
- ^ Mao Tse-Tung (18 May 2014). Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung: Volume 4. Elsevier Science. pp. 21–. ISBN 978-1-4831-5434-3.
- ^ Ying-Mao Kau (29 September 2017). Revival: The People's Liberation Army and China's Nation-Building (1973). Routledge. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-1-351-71622-2.
- ^ Peter Van Ness (1973). Revolution and Chinese Foreign Policy. University of California Press. pp. 40–. GGKEY:966F0LCC9P2.
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