Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai 周恩来
Born	March 5, 1898 Huai'an, Jiangsu, China
Died	January 8, 1976 Beijing, China
Cause of death	Bladder Cancer
Nationality	Chinese
Political orientation	Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought
Political party	The Communist Party of China

Zhou Enlai (March 5, 1898 - January 8, 1976) , whose name was Xiangyu, used to be named Feifei, Wuhao, Shaoshan, Guansheng, etc. , originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, [9] Born in Huaian , Jiangsu on March 5, 1898 . He joined the Communist Party of China in 1921. He is a great Marxist, a great proletarian revolutionist, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat, one of the main leaders of the party and the country, one of the main founders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and a member of the People's Republic of China. The founding father is an important member of the party's first generation of central leadership with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core.

He died in Beijing on January 8, 1976. His death was widely mourned. Because of his consistent hard work, strict self-discipline, and caring for the masses, he is known as "the people's good prime minister". His major works are included in Selected Works of Zhou Enlai.

Biography

Political Beginnings (1917 - 1920)

Zhou Enlai, after graduating from Tianjin Nankai School in 1917, he went to Japan to study and began to come into contact with Marxism .

He returned to China in 1919 and entered Nankai University in September. He became the leader of the Tianjin student circle during the May 4th Movement and organized the progressive group Awakening Society together with other activists in the movement.

In January 1920, he was arrested while leading the Tianjin Student Patriotic Movement. Preaching Marxism in prison. Released from prison in July. In November, went to France for a work-study program.

Party Work in Europe (1921 - 1923)

In 1921, he joined the Paris Communist Group, one of the eight founding groups of the Communist Party of China, established his belief in communism and became one of the founders of the Communist Party of China.

In 1922, together with Zhao Shiyan and others, he organized the Chinese Youth Communist Party in Europe (renamed the European Branch of the Chinese Socialist Youth League in the following year) and was responsible for the propaganda work. Served as the Secretary of the European Branch of the Chinese Socialist Youth League and the leader of the European Branch of the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1923, he was appointed by the Kuomintang headquarters as the preparator of the Paris branch of the Kuomintang, the special commissioner and acting executive minister of the Kuomintang branch in Europe, and presided over the work of the Kuomintang branch in Europe.

Return to China and outbreak of the Chinese Civil War (1924 - 1935)

He returned to China in the autumn of 1924. He married his wife Deng Yingchao on August 8th, 1925. During the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, he served as the director of the Political Department of Guangdong Whampoa Military Academy, the director of the Political Department of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and the deputy party representative of the First Army. And participated in the battle against the warlord Chen Jiongming twice, and established an effective military political work system.

In March 1927, when the National Revolutionary Army of the Northern Expedition approached Shanghai, he led the Shanghai workers' third armed uprising and drove away the Beiyang warlord troops stationed in Shanghai. In May of the same year, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee at the Fifth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. On July 12, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was reorganized, and he served as a member of the Temporary Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation broke down in an all-round way, together with He Long, Ye Ting, Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, etc., he led an armed uprising in Nanchang, Jiangxi on August 1, and served as the secretary of the CPC Front Enemy Committee.

In 1928, at the First Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. He later served as Minister of the Central Organization and Secretary of the Central Military Commission. In order to ensure the security of the secret work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, to connect and guide the armed struggles led by the Communist Party in various regions, and to develop the secret work in the Kuomintang ruled areas, it played an important role. During most of this period, he was actually the main host of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

In December 1931, he left Shanghai for the Central Revolutionary Base, where he successively served as Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Central Soviet Area, General Political Commissar of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, General Political Commissar of the First Front Army, and Vice Chairman of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission.

In the spring of 1933, he led and commanded the Red Army with Zhu De to defeat the fourth "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Revolutionary Base by the Kuomintang army.

Participated in the Long March in October 1934.

At the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Zunyi, Guizhou in January 1935, he supported Mao Zedong's correct proposition and played a key role in establishing the correct leadership of the new Central Committee represented by Mao Zedong. One of the main military leaders of the central government.

Activity during the War of Resistance against Japanese Imperialism (1936 - 1945)

In December 1936, after Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched the "Xi'an Incident" in which Chiang Kai-shek was detained by force, he served as the plenipotentiary representative of the Communist Party of China, Qin Bangxian, Ye Jianying and others to Xi'an to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek, and together with Zhang and Yang forced Chiang Kai-shek to accept the "stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan" advocated, and promoted the formation of the situation of unity and resistance against Japan.

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he represented the CPC in Chongqing and other areas controlled by the Kuomintang for a long time in united front work, trying to unite all parties who advocated resistance to Japan and saving the country, and successively led the work of the Yangtze River Bureau and the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He insisted on the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, actively united the democratic parties, progressive intellectuals, patriots and international friendly people, stopped the countercurrent of anti-communism, and overcome the danger of surrender to Japan.

Role in the ensuing Chinese Civil War and assignment as Prime Minister ( 1946 - 1949)

At the First Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1945, he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and secretary of the Central Secretariat, and formed the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, and Ren Bishi. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in order to stop the civil war, he led the CPC delegation to negotiate with the Kuomintang, and led the party's work, military work and united front work in the Kuomintang ruled area.

After 1946, he served as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and acting chief of staff, assisting Mao Zedong in organizing and directing the War of Liberation, and guiding the revolutionary movement in the Kuomintang-ruled areas.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai has been the prime minister of the government, and concurrently served as the foreign minister from 1949 to 1958; he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, vice chairman of the eighth and tenth Central Committee, and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission; Vice-chairman of the first session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, chairman of the second, third, and fourth sessions. It is responsible for the arduous task of handling the daily work of the party and the country.

Contributions to China as Prime Minister and activity during the Great Leap Forward (1952 - 1966)

From 1949 to 1952, he successfully organized and led the recovery of the national economy. By the end of 1952, the total output value of the country's industry and agriculture had reached the highest level in history.

During the "First Five-Year Plan" period from 1953 to 1957, he led industrial construction centered on 156 construction projects, laying the initial foundation for China's industrialization. In 1954, he proposed the goal of modernization of industry, agriculture, transportation and national defense, and organized the formulation of the "Scientific Development Plan from 1956 to 1967", which promoted the rapid development of the country's scientific and technological undertakings.

From 1961 to 1965, in order to correct the mistakes caused by the "Great Leap Forward" and reverse the economic difficulties, he, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping led the adjustment of the national economy, so that the national economy was gradually restored and developed. He emphasized that the key to building a powerful socialist country lies in the modernization of science and technology, and advocated that economic construction must be realistic, proceed from China's reality, be active, prudent, and comprehensively balanced. He paid special attention to the development of water conservancy construction and national defense science and technology, and made great contributions to this. He also paid special attention to the united front work, intellectual work, cultural work and the modernization of the people's army during the socialist period, guiding these tasks to achieve important results.

He participated in the formulation and implementation of major foreign policy decisions. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he assisted Mao Zedong in commanding the Chinese People's Volunteers to fight, and undertook the organization of logistics support, and led the Chinese delegation's armistice negotiations.

In 1954, he led the Chinese delegation to participate in the Geneva Conference, and reached an agreement through negotiation, so that the independence of Vietnam (except the South), Laos, and Cambodia was internationally recognized. On behalf of the Chinese government, he put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as the criterion for state-to-state relations.

At the Bandung Conference in 1955, he advocated peaceful coexistence, opposed colonialism, advocated seeking common ground while reserving differences, and reaching consensus through consultation, so that China's independent foreign policy of peace was actively implemented. He has successively visited dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, received a large number of leaders and friendly people from all over the world, and made important contributions to enhancing the friendship between the Chinese people and the people of the world and expanding China's international influence.