Zhou Enlai Outline

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Zhou Enlai: Biographical Outline

Zhou Enlai was the first prime minister of The People’s Republic of China. He is categorized with the likes of people such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xioping, otherwise known as powerful and influential leaders in modern Chinese history. Enlai, for years was one of the most prominent and respected leaders of the communist party notably arranging and implementing the historic meeting between Mao Zedong and United States President Richard Nixon. However, Zhou Enlai’s most scrutinized length in office was when he served with Mao Zedong. Years later people of the Chinese public and the world beyond work to understand who this man was and how he withstood the infamous times of the Cultural Revolution and came away as …show more content…

Thus, marking Autumn 1922 as when Zhou first joined the Communist Party of China. By 1924, he was ordered back to China to take charge of the work of the united front in the Kuomintang stronghold in Guangzhou. Shortly after arriving back from Europe, Zhou Enlai was appointed deputy-director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, where a future Nationlist leader Chiang Kai-shek was commandant in Guangzhou. At the military academy, he was instrumental in establishing the political department representative system which was eventually implemented in nationalist armed forces in 1925. Zhou went on to participate in multiple military operations known as the first and second Eastern …show more content…

Zhou’s work in Whampoa was a significant part of his career because it shaped his expertise in being a political officer and other roles he would hold further on in his career. Later in 1927 following the nationalist split with the communists Zhou took a major role in organizing the communist insurrection known as the Nanchang Uprising. Although Zhou initially allied himself with the CCP leaders who wrestled control of policy making in the Jiangxi Soviet from Mao Zedong’s hands, the two men eventually entered into a close association. Mao Zedong gained control of the CCP during the historic 6,000-mile trek of the Chinese communists named the Long March in 1934; subsequently Zhou supported Mao’s leadership in the party. In October 1949 Zhou became the chief administrator of China’s bureaucracy. Serving as foreign minister, he had many responsibilities in foreign affairs and as the years continued Zhou maintained his leading position in the CCP, and was elected one of the party’s four vice

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