Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai or Chou En-lai (1898-1976), first premier (1949-1976) of the People's Republic of China and one of the major leaders of the Chinese Communist movement.

Zhou, also known as Chou En-lai, was born into a gentry family in Huaian, Jiangsu (Kiangsu) Province, and educated at Nankai University, Tianjin (Tientsin), and in Japan and France. While in Europe (1920-1924) he organized branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On his return to China, he joined the alliance between the Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party) and the CCP that was led by Sun Yat-sen, and he soon became director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, then headed by Chiang Kai-shek. After the break between the Kuomintang and the Communists in 1927, Zhou was elected to the CCP's ruling Politburo. That same year he led a proletarian insurrection in Shanghai and participated in the uprising in Nanchang (Nan-ch’ang) that marked the founding of the Chinese Red Army. He later made several trips to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Along with Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) and others, Zhou led (1934-1935) the historic Long March from southeastern China to Yan’an in the north. He also played a key role in the Sian Incident (1936), the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek, which marked the beginning of a united KMT-CCP front against the invading Japanese. During the rest of the war against Japan, Zhou served in Chongqing (Chungking) as chief CCP representative with the KMT government, and after the defeat of Japan, he represented the CCP in the futile negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek, mediated by the U.S. general George C. Marshall. In October 1949, Zhou became the first premier and foreign minister of the Communist regime.

As China's chief administrator, Zhou attempted to restore order after the long civil war and adopted an ambitious economic reconstruction program. As China's chief diplomat—he was foreign minister until 1958—he improved China's international position at such meetings as the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina and the 1955 Bandung Conference at Bandung, Indonesia.

During the Cultural Revolution Zhou did much to prevent the radicals from totally disrupting the party apparatus and government bureaucracy. In September 1971, he apparently played a role in thwarting a military coup by Mao's heir apparent, Defense Minister Lin Biao (Lin Piao). Following Lin's death, Zhou emerged as China's second most powerful leader after Mao.

In view of the growing Sino-Soviet antagonism, Zhou in the early 1970s began a dialogue with Japan and the United States. In 1972 he signed the Shanghai Communiqué with U.S. President Richard Nixon—a step that eventually led to close ties between the two countries and, in 1979, to formal diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations were also established with Japan. Zhou died in Beijing on January 8, 1976.