Jan 21, 1937: Mao speaks at opening ceremony of Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University

Jan 21, 1937: Mao Zedong speaks to the opening ceremony of the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University

On Jan 21, 1937, the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University held the second semester's opening ceremony. In mid-January, to defend China against Japanese aggression, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, chaired by Mao Zedong, decided to change the name of Anti-Japanese Red Army University to the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. Mao was also chairman of the university's education commission. Mao spoke at the opening ceremony, describing the university as a grindstone wearing away petty bourgeois thinking and acting as a sharp blade to hone society's attention to innovation and the overthrow of Japanese imperialism.