After making amends with Ma Yinchu, Mao turned to Liang Shuming. He said: “Shou brother, it’s been sixty years. Ever since 1953, when you stood up for the peasants and I refused, criticizing you instead, we argued, and I suppressed you. From then on, you disappeared. History proves you were right, I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Liang Shuming was surprised by Mao’s unusually conciliatory tone. True to his character, Liang replied bluntly: “Your tolerance is too small! I only wanted to test whether your Party had magnanimity. When you became emperor in Beijing, I couldn’t adapt; I thought I was still in Yan’an, where we had six all-night discussions.”

Mao recalled: “I remember those six discussions. Your On Chinese Culture Supremacy was very enlightening. You emphasized practical work over superficial constitutionalism. My ‘Sinicization of Marxism’ was inspired by you. This allowed me to control discourse and remain invincible in theory and practice. I owe you great thanks.”

Liang noted the changes in circumstances: “But in Beijing, the environment and our statuses changed. By 1950, you had added ‘Long live Chairman Mao’ to May Day slogans, a complete shift from the democratic rhetoric in Yan’an. You became the living emperor, and I forgot the protocol: in old times, one always bowed to the emperor. Since the founding of New China, no one dared oppose you; only I, foolishly, did. You chastised me in conferences for half a year, after which I disappeared from public view, remaining quietly at home. During the 1957 Hundred Flowers Movement, I stayed neutral, so I was not implicated in the Anti-Rightist Campaign.”

Mao acknowledged Liang’s lifelong work: “You are a great Confucian, famous for studying Indian civilization despite never attending university, and appointed a Peking University professor at 24 by Cai Yuanpei. In the 1930s, you devoted yourself to rural construction in Shandong for seven years, influencing the entire region. After liberation, you continued advocating for peasants. I overexploited the rural population, forced collectivization, and insisted on People’s Communes and the Great Leap Forward, causing widespread harm. I was wrong, and you were right. In 1957, the Anti-Rightist Campaign did not target you, and during the Cultural Revolution, you were largely unharmed?”

Liang replied: “Technically, I had no new offenses. I had once contradicted you but was labeled a ‘reactionary academic authority.’ During the Cultural Revolution, my home was raided more than once, and I was forced into small quarters, wearing a rightist label, participating in struggle sessions, street cleaning, and digging air-raid shelters. I went along as physical exercise, so my health remained intact throughout the ten years.”

Mao asked: “You also participated in the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign, right?”

Liang: “Yes, I attended but remained silent. On September 23, 1974, when the session ended, the organizer asked for my comments. I reluctantly said: ‘Three armies may be commanded, but a common man’s will cannot be taken.’ Asked to explain, I said: ‘Confucius himself was not a religion; belief in him is unnecessary. He advocated rationality. Others may inspire me, but I act according to my reason. Even under pressure, my will cannot be taken.’ This statement led to further criticism of me as resisting the movement.”

Mao: “Were you eventually rehabilitated?”

Liang: “By 1979, I regained freedom quietly. My works were eventually published, though without fanfare—unlike Ma Yinchu, who had officials formally announce his vindication. I passed away with no memorial service, only an elegiac couplet from my old friend Feng Youlan during the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign: ‘A clear voice of a generation, speaking for the peasants.’ Perhaps this represented your implicit recognition.”

Mao: “Fortunately, Shou brother, you are magnanimous and unresentful.”

Liang: “Even magnanimity has its limits. During the campaigns and Cultural Revolution, we suffered greatly, yet mistakes were never officially acknowledged. Unlike Confucius, whose errors were publicly recognized and corrected, the Party often let them slide. In my final decade, with politics less pressing and rural life improving under Deng Xiaoping, I focused on personal cultivation and the works in Human Nature and Life, avoiding politics altogether. Your passing left me with no one to debate; a slight sense of loneliness remained.”

Mao concluded: “Today, I formally apologize to you.”

Liang Shuming felt satisfied, and the others nodded in agreement. Mao reflected: his efforts to reconcile with Liang Shuming had been successful.

NEXT: 77. Hu Shi (1891–1962)