Zhou Enlai was born on 5 March 1898 in Jiangsu. The Zhou family originated from Shaoxing as the same as Lu Xun. But the Zhou family ran bankrupt and Zhou Enlai was left in uncle's care and led a life in extreme poverty. In his high school days, he was so handsome that he always played a female role in new Chinese opera. He advanced to Nankai University newly established with the financial aid of America. Nankai University had substantial curriculum and enlightened faculties,and what he learned in this University gave a great influence on his future. Graduated from Nankai University, he went to France for studies in full with a hope of discovering the way to save China as the same as other Chinese students. He was rapidly awakened by communism in France. Zhou Enlai was in complete control of administrtive organization as a leader only second to Mao Zedong in rank and moreover he enjoyed enormous popularity. Many people remarked on his charm that he held a prominent memory and an ample store of topics. It was in Sian Incident as a divergent point of the war between Japan and China that his best talent of understanding the subtleties of human mind was mostly exerted. After the death of Sun Yat-sen,Chiang Kai-shek ignored the will of Sun Yat-sen and attacked the base of Communist Party in a large scale. Then the base of Communist Party was put under a strong pressure of the army of Guomidang (National Party). There was Zhang Xueliang whose father Zhang Zulin was plotted to be killed by Japanese army in the north east part of China. Zhang Xueliang was a warlord to become an Emperor of Manchuria but surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek in order to battle against Japan. But Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Xueliang to fight against the army of the Communist Party instead of the Japanese army. But he don't have a will to battle against Communist Party and the battle hardly progressed. Irritated, Chiang Kai-shek dicided to go to Sian in order to supervise their attack to the Communist Party. But in Sian, Chiang Kai-shek was arrested and taken in custody,and before long the meeting between Chaing Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai of Communist Party was realized. Zhou Enlai once had been a deputy political director of Whampoa Military Academy which Chiang Kai-shek had directed. When Zhang Xueliang was questioned about the contents of the meeting in the TV program in 1998, he answered "Don't ask me any more about that." Anyway,after the meeting,Chiang Kai-sheck received the policy of cooperating to fight against Japan's agression and the second United Front was realized. At this time,people in the world had gotten known for the first time Zhou Enlai's ability of diplomatic negotiation and persuation. Zhou Enlai had played a major role centered with diplomacy under Mao Zedong of Communist Party. Zhou Enlai managed to negotiate with National Party or America at Nanjing or Chongging under the sevailance of National Party during the war between Japan and China. After the war,he attended the conference of both parties in Chongging. In 1950,immediately after the establishment of Republic of China, he went to Moscow and became a assistance of Mao-Zedong in the swinging conference between China and Soviet Union. Moreover, he attended the Geneva conference in 1954 which was the first international conference that China joined,and was engaged in most of the negotiations with foreign countries. Zhou Enlai went through the severe struggles with Jiang Qing,a wife of Mao Zedong,for power and had overcome the danger of downfall in the Cultural Great Proletarian Revolution. Zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976 at the age of 78 years old. People deplored his death more than any other heroes. The days of Zhou Enlai in Japan
E-mail to Yoshimura Naohiro. |