Chinese people commemorate the 42nd anniv. of Zhou Enlai’s death

January 8, 2018 marks the 42nd anniversary of the passing of New China’s first premier Zhou Enlai. On this day, people in China dearly commemorate the great figure who devoted himself to the country.

Zhou Enlai, premier of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since 1949, dies of cancer at age of 77.

The file photo shows Zhou Enlai at Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, north China in 1916.

Zhou was second to Mao Zedong, the leader of the revolution that brought a communist regime to China, in terms of importance in the PRC. Beyond his significance as a leader of communist China, Zhou was instrumental in the negotiations that resulted in the U.S. recognition of the PRC in 1979.

Zhou Enlai and his wife Deng Yingchao in the 1940s.

Zhou was born in 1898, and was heavily involved in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by the 1920s. He rose quickly through the party ranks and became one of Mao Zedong’s most trusted advisors, particularly valued for his skill at negotiations and diplomacy. In 1949, Zhou was appointed premier and foreign minister of the new government.

Zhou delivers government work report during the first session of the first National People’s Congress on September 23, 1954.

China’s Premier Zhou at the Geneva Conference on April 27, 1954.

During the 1950s, he represented China at various diplomatic gatherings, including the 1954 Geneva Conference and the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung. He was also a stabilizing force inside China during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution and its resultant political tensions.

U.S. President Richard Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai

In the early 1970s, Zhou embarked on a program to rebuild relations with the United States, which had refused to recognize the Chinese communist government. In 1972, he and President Richard Nixon shocked the world by meeting and agreeing to work for closer political and economic relations between the two nations. These talks eventually did bear fruit in 1979, when the United States formally recognized the PRC.

People carry premier Zhou’s portrait to the Monument of the People’s Heroes in Beijing. Zhou Enlai died of cancer on January 8, 1976.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)