On March 25, 1940, Shi Zhe arrived in Yan'an and met Mao Zedong for the first time. In the early days of returning to China, Shi Zhe was an observer of the Communist International, reporting on the upcoming Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China. When the Communist International was dissolved in 1943, Shi Zhe's observer mission disappeared. However, Shi Zhe was still a very important liaison between China and the Soviet Union, responsible for (among other things) the telegram exchanges between Mao Zedong and Stalin and the translation tasks of Mao Zedong’s Soviet visitors.