Zhou Enlai: A Life

Zhou Enlai was a Chinese politician who served as the first premier and foreign minister of the People's Republic of China, protecting his country against Chairman Mao's excesses. Chen Jian's biography offers a nuanced portrait of his complex life as a revolutionary, diplomat, and man with his vision and aspirations.

Format: Hardback
Length: 840 pages
Publication date: 07 May 2024
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Zhou Enlai, the first premier and preeminent diplomat of the People's Republic of China, played a crucial role in protecting his country against the excesses of his boss, Chairman Mao. He served as premier for twenty-seven years and as foreign minister for ten, shaping the country's administrative apparatus and its relationship with the world. Despite being overshadowed by Mao, Zhou's legacy is significant. Chen Jian's biography offers a nuanced portrait of Zhou's complex life as a revolutionary, master diplomat, and man with his own vision and aspirations. Born to a declining mandarin family in 1898, Zhou received a classical education and spent time in Japan. As a young man, driven by the desire for China's development, he embraced the communist revolution as a vehicle of China's salvation. He helped Mao govern through a series of transformations, including the disastrous Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. However, Zhou was never a committed Maoist. His extraordinary political and bureaucratic skill, combined with his centrist approaches, enabled him to mitigate the enormous damage caused by Mao's radicalism. When Zhou died in 1976, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was not yet visible on the horizon. He never saw the glistening twenty-first-century Shanghai or the broader emergence of Chinese capitalism. But it was Zhou's work that shaped the nation whose influence and power are today felt in every corner of the globe.

Weight: 1306g
Dimension: 242 x 160 x 45 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674659582