Zhou Enlai
5 min readZhou Enlai（Wade-Giles:Chou En-lai）（March 5，1898-January 8，1976），a prominent Communist Party of China leader，was Premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death.
Zhou Enlai was born in Huai An，Jiangsu Province.His family，although of the educated scholar class，was not well off.Zhou Enlai was the eldest son and eldest grandson of the Zhou family.Enlai was an orphan at the age of ten.At the age of twelve Enlai was enrolled in the Tong Guan model school that taught“new learning”，where Enlai learned about freedom，democracy and the American and French revolutions.
In 1913，at the age of fifteen，Enlai graduated from Tong Guan and in September of that year he was enrolled in the Nankai school，located in Tianjin.Throughout the period of his schooling China was in great turmoil.Enlai could see that China was being ruined by foreign intervention.He shared in the wrath，the protest，and the indignation at the plight of China.
The next step in Enlai’s education was to attend university in Tokyo.His goal was to become a teacher so that he could have influence on the youth of China.But in early May 1919，dejected and without completing his education，he left Japan.
Enlai arrived in Tianjin on May 9th，in time to take part in the momentous May Fourth Movement of 1919.
Revolutionary Activities
Zhou first came to national prominence as an activist during the May Fourth Movement.He had enrolled as a student in the literature department of Nankai University，which enabled him to visit the campus，but he never attended classes.He became one of the organizers of the Tianjin Students Union，whose avowed aim was “to struggle against the warlords and against imperialism，and to save China from extinction.”Enlai became the editor of the student union’s newspaper，Tianjin Student.In September，he founded the Awareness Society with twelve men and eight women.Fifteen year old Deng Yingchao，Enlai’s future wife，was one of the founding female members.Zhou was instrumental in the merger between the all male Tianjin Students Union and the all female Women’s Patriotic Association.
In January 1920，the police raided the printing press and arrested several members of the Awareness Society.Enlai led a group of students to protest the arrests，and was himself arrested along with 28 others.After the trial in July，they were found guilty of a minor offence and released.An attempt was made by the Comintern to induct Zhou into the Communist Party of China，but although he was studying Marxism he remained uncommitted.Instead of being selected to go to Moscow for training，he was chosen to go to France as a student organizer.Deng Yingchao was left in charge of the Awareness Society in his absence.
The European Years
On November 7，1920，Zhou Enlai and 196 other Chinese students sailed from Shanghai for Marseilles，France.At Marseilles they were met by a member of the Sino-French Education Committee and boarded a train to Paris.Almost as soon as hearrived Zhou became embroiled in a wrangle between the students and the education authorities running the“work and study”program.Zhou traveled to Britain in January；he applied for and was accepted as a student at Edinburgh University.But the university term didn’t start until October so he returned to France，moving in with Liu Tsingyang and Zhang Shenfu，who were setting up a Communist cell.Zhou joined the group and was entrusted with political and organizational work.There were 2000 Chinese students in France，some 200 each in Belgium and England and between 300 and 400 in Germany.For the next four years Zhou was the chief recruiter，organizer and coordinator of activities of the Socialist Youth League.
The First United Front
In January，1924，Sun Yat-sen had officially proclaimed an alliance between the Kuomintang and the Communists，and a plan for a military expedition to unify China and destroy the warlords.In October，shortly after he arrived back from Europe，Zhou Enlai was appointed director of the political department at the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou.
Zhou soon realized the Kuomintang was riddled with intrigue.The powerful rightwing of the Kuomintang was bitterly opposed to the Communist alliance.Zhou was convinced that the CCP，in order to survive must have an army of its own.He and hisfriend Nie Rongzhen set about to organize a nucleus of officer cadets who were CCP members and who would follow the principles of Marx.
On August 81925，he and Deng Yingchao were finally married.The couple remained childless，but adopted many orphaned children of“revolutionary martyrs” After Sun’s death the Kuomintang was run by a triumvirate composed of Chiang Kai-shek.In 1926，a state of emergency was declared and curfews were imposed.Zhou had just returned from Shantou and was also detained for 48 hours.On his release heconfronted Chiang and accused him of undermining the United Front but failed.Chiang then dismissed all the CCP officers from the First Army.Zhou Enlai was relieved of all his duties associated with the First United front，effectively giving complete control of the United Front to Chiang Kai-shek.
Premiership
In 1949，with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China，Zhou assumed the role of Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.In June 1953，he made the five declarations for peace.He headed the Communist Chinese delegation to the Geneva Conference and to the Bandung Conference（1955）.In 1958，the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs was passed to Chen Yi but Zhou remained Prime Minister until his death in 1976.
Known as an able diplomat，Zhou was largely responsible for the re-establishment of contacts with the West in the early 1970s.He welcomed US President Richard Nixon to China in February 1972，and signed the Shanghai Communique.
Discovering he had cancer，he began to pass many of his responsibilities ontoDeng Xiaoping.During the late stages of the Cultural Revolution，Zhou was the target of the Gang of Four’s political campaigns.
Many Chinese youths view him as their political idol.Some scholars even believe that Zhou’s influences on Chinese youths are even greater than the most famous Chinese leader，Mao.However，There is no doubt that he was fundamentally a believer in the Communist ideal on which modern China was founded.
Death and Reactions
Zhou was hospitalized in 1974 for bladder cancer，but continued to conduct work from the hospital，with Deng Xiaoping as the First Deputy Premier，handling most of the important State Council matters.Zhou died on the morning of January 8 1976，months before Mao Zedong.Zhou’s death brought messages of condolences from many non-aligned states that he affected during his tenure as an effective diplomat andnegotiator on the world stage，and many states saw Zhou’s death as a terrible loss.
Since his death，a memorial hall has been dedicated to him and his beloved wife in Tianjin，named Tianjin Zhou Enlai Deng Yingchao Memorial Hall，and the issue of national stamps commemorating the 1 year anniversary of his death in 1977，and again in 1998 commemorating his 100th birthday.
