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Zhou Enlai (World Leaders Past & Present)
Zhou Enlai - World Leaders Past & Present Author:Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler Zhou Enlai served for 26 years (1949-1976) as the first premier of the People's Republic of China, overseeing the immense work of modernization and acting as a voice of restraint during the young nation's fierce ideological conflicts. As China's top diplomat, he showed the world that communism could have a human face. — Born on March ... more »5, 1898, into a middle-class mandarin family, Zhou received a traditional Chinese education. As a young man, he participated in protests against foreign domination, and, in 1921, disturbed by the corruption and poverty that plagued China under its warlord rulers, Zhou joined the Communist party.
In an effort to unify China, Zhou strove to ally the Communists with Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, but war broke out between the two groups in 1927. An adept organizer, Zhou directed the Communists' Red Army against the Nationalist forces and, during the 1930s and 1940s, against the Japanese.
The Communists forced Chiang to retreat to the island of Taiwan, and in 1949 formed the People's Republic. Under Chairman Mae Zedong, Zhou became the country's premier and foreign minister. As China's chief negotiator, Zhou established China as a leader of developing nations, and greatly improved the long-troubled relations between his country and the United States.« less