Say All You Know

知无不言，言无不尽 Say all one knows, and say it without reserve. The Song writer Su Xun used the words for the bond between a ruler and his most trusted minister.

In On Coalition Government, in 1945, Mao Zedong joined it with two other sayings: “Those who speak are not guilty, and those who hear take warning,” and “Correct mistakes if there are any, and if there are none, take it as encouragement.” He called them “useful maxims of the Chinese people.”

In 1957, a Party directive on the rectification campaign called for encouraging criticism and practicing these principles firmly. In 1977, the first two were written into the Party Constitution.

Random Thoughts

From December 1978 to July 1986, the writer Ba Jin wrote Random Thoughts (随想录), five volumes and more than 400,000 characters. One of its essays is titled The Future (Speaking the Truth, No. 5). In 2005, China News Service called the work “a great book of ‘speaking the truth’ for this era.”

The Vocabulary of Open Hearts

推心置腹 To push out one’s heart and place it in another’s belly. To treat others with complete sincerity. In the Book of the Later Han, people say of Liu Xiu: “He puts his own red heart into people’s bellies. How could we not give our lives for him?”

开诚布公 To open one’s sincerity and spread out fair dealing. The Handian dictionary cites a line on Zhuge Liang as chief minister: he “opened his sincere heart and spread out fair dealing.”

肝胆相照 Liver and gall shine on each other. Sincerity with nothing held back. In 1982, the Communist Party’s Twelfth Congress made it part of a sixteen-character principle for its relations with the democratic parties.

直言不讳 To speak directly and avoid nothing. To speak frankly, without holding back.

Heart-to-Heart Talks

In 2016, the Communist Party’s Several Norms on Political Life Within the Party listed rules for its organizational life. One of them reads: “Uphold the system of heart-to-heart talks.” (坚持谈心谈话制度)

“Members of leading groups among themselves, members of leading groups and Party members, and Party members among themselves should hold regular heart-to-heart talks, meet each other frankly, share their thoughts and exchange views.”

Combat Liberalism

On September 7, 1937, Mao Zedong wrote a short text called Combat Liberalism (反对自由主义). It lists the kinds of liberal behavior inside the Party. The second is “irresponsible criticism behind people’s backs, instead of making suggestions to the organization.”

“Saying nothing to people’s faces, but talking wildly behind their backs. Saying nothing at the meeting, but talking wildly after it.” (当面不说，背后乱说；开会不说，会后乱说。)

The Anti-Rightist Campaign

In 1957, the Party invited criticism under the slogan “let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” When the criticism came, a People’s Daily editorial answered: “Some say this was a plot. We say it was an open scheme (yangmou), because we told the enemy in advance. Only when poisonous weeds come out of the soil can they be easily hoed.”

By the Party’s own later count, about 550,000 people were labeled “rightists.” Figures cited from declassified central archives are far higher. The democratic parties, which had been told that “those who speak are not guilty,” no longer dared to speak in political life.

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