Zhou Enlai

This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. (November 2024)

Zhou Enlai
周恩来
Official portrait, 1950s
1st Premier of the People's Republic of China
In office 21 October 1949 – 8 January 1976
1st vice-premier	Dong Biwu Chen Yun Lin Biao Deng Xiaoping
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Hua Guofeng
1st Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
In office 1 October 1949 – 11 February 1958
Premier	Himself
Preceded by	Hu Shih (as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China)
Succeeded by	Chen Yi
First Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 30 August 1973 – 8 January 1976
Chairman	Mao Zedong
Preceded by	Lin Biao (1971)
Succeeded by	Hua Guofeng
Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 28 September 1956 – 1 August 1966
Chairman	Mao Zedong
2nd Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office 25 December 1954 – 8 January 1976
Honorary Chairman	Mao Zedong
Preceded by	Mao Zedong
Succeeded by	Vacant (1976–1978) Deng Xiaoping
Personal details
Born	(1898-03-05)5 March 1898 Huai'an, Jiangsu, Qing dynasty
Died	8 January 1976(1976-01-08) (aged 77) Beijing, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (1921–1976)
Other political affiliations	Kuomintang (1923–1927)
Spouse	Deng Yingchao ​ (m. 1925)​
Children	Sun Weishi, Wang Shu (both adopted)[1][2]
Alma mater	Nankai University Meiji University
Signature
Website	zhouenlai.people.cn
Military service
Branch/service	National Revolutionary Army (1937–1945) Chinese Red Army People's Liberation Army
Rank	Lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition Nanchang uprising Encirclement campaigns Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War
Zhou Enlai's voice Zhou during a 1965 interview with CBS
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	周恩来
Traditional Chinese	周恩來
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōu Ēnlái Gwoyeu Romatzyh Jou Enlai Wade–Giles Chou1 Ên1-lai2 IPA [ʈʂóʊ ə́nlǎɪ] Wu Suzhounese Tseu En-le Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jāu Yān-lòih Jyutping Zau1 Jan1-loi4 IPA [tsɐw˥ jɐn˥ lɔj˩]
Courtesy name
Chinese	翔宇
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiángyǔ Wade–Giles Hsiang2-yü3 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Coeng4-jyu5

Zhou Enlai (Chinese: 周恩来; pinyin: Zhōu Ēnlái; Wade–Giles: Chou¹ Ên¹-lai²; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the inaugural premier of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 until his death in 1976, and concurrently as the inaugural Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1958. Zhou was a key figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and ally of Mao Zedong during the Chinese Civil War, later helping consolidate its control, form its foreign policy, and develop the economy.

Born in Jiangsu, as a student Zhou was involved in the 1919 May Fourth Movement, and in the early 1920s studied in France, where he joined the newly-founded CCP. During the party's alliance with the Kuomintang (KMT), he worked in the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy. In 1927, Zhou led the worker uprising which was crushed by the KMT in the Shanghai massacre, after which he helped lead the Nanchang uprising. Zhou worked underground in Shanghai before being transferred to the Jiangxi Soviet, and after the soviet's defeat was a member of the party's top leadership during its Long March. Zhou came to support Mao Zedong, who became leader of the CCP in 1935. During the Xi'an Incident in 1936, Zhou successfully persuaded KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek to agree to form a Second United Front against the Japanese. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhou was the resident representative of the CCP in Chongqing, and during the renewed civil war from 1946 assisted Mao in commanding military campaigns.

After the establishment of the PRC in 1949, Zhou was appointed head of government and foreign minister. Advocating peaceful coexistence with the West after the Korean War, he participated in the 1954 Geneva Conference and 1955 Bandung Conference and helped orchestrate Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. He helped devise policies regarding disputes with the United States, Taiwan, the Soviet Union (after 1960), India, Korea, and Vietnam. Zhou survived the purges of other top officials during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, and was one of the main driving forces behind affairs of state as Mao dedicated much of his later years to political struggle and ideological work. Zhou's attempts at mitigating the Red Guards' damage and his efforts to protect others from their wrath made him immensely popular in its later stages.

Mao's health began to decline in 1971, and Lin Biao fell into disgrace and later died in a plane crash. Amid these events, Zhou was designated as Mao's successor in 1973, but struggled internally against the Gang of Four. In 1975, he fell out of the public eye for medical treatment and died one year later. The outpouring of public grief which his death provoked in Beijing turned to anger at the Gang of Four, leading to the 1976 Tiananmen incident. Though Zhou was succeeded by Hua Guofeng as premier and designated successor, after Mao's death Zhou's ally Deng Xiaoping was able to secure his place as paramount leader by 1978.