Chen Yun: Stories of a Republic Leader

Author: Compiled by the National Museum of China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This book is part of the "Leaders of the People's Republic" series, focusing on Zhou Enlai. With dozens of chapters written in biographical form, it uses rich primary materials and a straightforward, rigorous style to answer how Zhou Enlai grasped economic work and how he advanced the "space race" and water conservancy projects. Zhou Enlai served as the Premier of the People's Republic of China for 26 years, holding the longest continuous tenure in such a position worldwide. The book covers his long years of governing the country, and readers are sure to be left with profound impressions and endless reflections.
Zhou Enlai (1898–1976), styled Xiangyu, also known by the name Wu Hao, was a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He was a Chinese communist revolutionary, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat, as well as one of the key leaders of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China, and a founding member of the People's Liberation Army. After graduating from Nankai School in Tianjin in 1917, he studied in Japan. He returned to China in 1919. During the May Fourth Movement, he organized the Awakened Society in Tianjin and engaged in anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary activities. In 1920, he went to France for the Work-Study Program and initiated the formation of the Communist Youth League of China in Europe. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1921, serving as the leader of the Youth League branch in Europe and the leader of the Communist branch in Europe. He returned to China in 1924. On August 1, 1927, he led the Nanchang Uprising. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he served as Premier continuously, also holding the posts of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, as well as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was a member of the 5th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a Standing Committee member of the 6th Central Committee, a member of the 7th Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat, a Standing Committee member of the 9th Central Committee, and Vice Chairman of the 8th and 10th Central Committees.