Zhou, Enlai, 1898-1976
Biography
Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) was a leader in the Chinese Communist Party and foreign minister of the People's Republic of China.
Zhou Enlai was born on March 5, 1898 in the Huai'an Jiangsu province. He studied in Japan before returning to China for the May 4th movements. He protested though publications with fellow students until his arrest in 1920. Soon after this,he left to study and work in France, where he converted to communism. He worked with the Zhongguo gong chan dang from France and continued involvement when he returned to China in 1924 during the revolution. He met a fellow activist, Deng Yingchao, in the revolutionary movement, and the two were married. Zhou was appointed as the deputy director of the Whampoa Military Academy. In 1927, he became the directory of the military department of the Zhongguo gong chan dang. He helped organize the Nanchang Uprising in August of 1927. The city was recaptured by the Zhongguo guo min dang, and Zhou fled to Shanghai. He became a leader of the Zhongguo gong chan dang, and moved to Jiangxi as the political commissar of the China Zhongguo ren min jie fang jun. He participated in the Long March to Yan'an and helped organize the United Front against Japanese invasion. Zhou also participated in the civil war following the Sino-Japanese war, and the establishment of a communist China. He served as foreign minister and chief administrator of China's civil bureaucracy. He died on January 8, 1976 in Beijing.