Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary

Zhou joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1920s and served as the head of the armed forces until victory over the Nationalists in 1949 and then as Premier until his death in 1976. He was involved in almost every major battle (and the Long March) fought against both the Japanese and the Nationalists, and survived the purge of the pro-Soviet wing in the 1950s, the Great Leap Forward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. His survival was based on (at least publicly) unwavering loyalty to Mao Zedong during the purges and upheavals of Mao's permanent revolution. He was always the mediator and conciliator who knew that in some ways he was invaluable to Mao and therefore was always the 'next' to be purged but Mao always had some one in front of Zhou. Having been Zhou's official biographer for the CCP, Gao had access to the secret archives of the Party and was able to read the 'revised' histories that were contained there. The archives, and access to Zhou's journals and his widow, allows Gao to understand how Zhou and Mao spent years in a dance of political power versus economic growth. Zhou was always ready to submit himself to self-criticism and humiliation as long as he could keep his position. Mao never fully trusted Zhou's loyalty but he needed him to run the government while Mao determined the direction of the Revolution politically. The second half of the book is truly intriguing as Gao demonstrated how total power ended up corrupting Mao. Having seen what happened to Stalin after his death, Mao was determined that there would be no Chinese 'Krushchev' to denounce him after his death. Each time that Mao chose a successor, he became paranoid that there was a conspiracy to overthrow him and therefore determined to eliminate that successor. Zhou was able to survive by never being named to succeed Mao. An absolutely fascinating book. Zeb Kantrowitz

Zhou Enlai was the last political leader in China to be revered by the Communist Party. Premier from 1949 to his death from bladder cancer in 1976, Zhou was born on March 5, 1898 in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province to a well-educated family that, regardless of their community standing, suffered from the difficult economic times. As an infant, Zhou was raised by his aunt and uncle, since they had no heirs. He was a cherished child, but that love did not diminish his ability to face and withstand the turbulent political issues that challenged him throughout his life. Zhou's ability to fight off political foes and problems was influenced by his understanding and knowledge of Confucius. It's interesting that Zhou really took the political center stage in 1972 after the historic meeting when President Nixon visited China. Then in 1976, Zhou was diagnosed with cancer and he died that year. Zhou spent years pleasing Mao, and in his time of need, Mao took steps to deny Zhou the necessary medical treatment that might have extended his life. Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary focuses on the political life of Zhou and not his personal life. I would have liked to have had more information about the personal influences that made the man what he was. And in many ways, the book is really not about Zhou. But it is important to note that one can't understand Zhou without looking at the vast backdrop of China, Mao and the political turbulence that the premier worked in. Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary is a must read. There are no heroes in this story and the suffering of the victims-the Chinese people-will provoke anger in the reader. The arrogance and egos of these men delivered untold suffering that knew no bounds. Armchair Interviews: Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary is a page turner.

It appears that once the revolutionaries took hold of China, they had no idea what to do with it. In the absense of any program for bettering the country, Mao chose a legacy of power and adulation over one of public works. The result was a wholey dysfuctional bureaucray where participants schemed not for corner offices, but for their lives. This book documents those internal battles. Unless you have some background in this, not all the dynamics will be accessible. What is clear to the general reader is that at the core was the insatiable ego of the revolution's presumed hero. The Author's Note tells about the brave people who helped to assemble this book, bringing notes from China index card by index card. The list of sources shows the impressive primary materials that were used. You also learn of the author's mother, herself a victim of the Cultural Revolution, who despite being harrassed, encouraged him to write this book. The title is misleading. This is not a bio of Zhou, there are pages and pages where he is hardly mentioned. The subtitle is strange since the author says he is trying to show Zhou as not the perfect man he is thought in some quarters to be. While not the main subject, Zhou is an organizing personality for this story, since he is, perhaps, the only enabler of Mao who could have done him in. The big mid-twentieth century revolutions, China, Russia and Cuba ended in similar ways. The revolutionaries who put their lives on the line to remove autocracies easily surrendered those same dictatorial reins to their victorious generals. The generals had psychopathic needs for power and could not tolerate anything but a cadre of enablers. Fresh from fighting horiffic revolutions they were inured to bloodshed and suffering and saw them as legitimate political tools. Perhaps these are the mindsets it takes to wage a revolution against a despot, but as history shows, they are disasterous in running a country.

I read this book for a graduate history class on Mao's China Gao Wenqian has written what surely will be received by the burgeoning Chinese history community as the definitive biography of "the Beloved People's Premier," Zhou Enlai. It is rare to comment on a biographer's life when writing a book report; but in this case, it is necessary to illuminate the reasoning and methods used by this author in order to understand the significance of his biography of Zhou. The authority and importance that this book represents to China scholarship is due to the position that the author held for over fourteen years, as a research writer in the small and secretive Central Documents Research Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for Zhou Enlai Studies. Gao's unique access to the secret People's Republic of China's (PRC) government and Party documents relating to not only Zhou but to Mao Zedong and other leading Party officials, as well as important events such as the Cultural Revolution, gives his biography an unparalleled stamp of authority. Soon after the government crackdown on dissidents in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Gao decided to bolt the Party. Over a period of two years, he successfully planed and executed his goal of compiling note cards of information from the archives he worked with and sent them through the mail to trusted friends in the West. By this method of subterfuge, he was eventually able to leave the country and travel to Harvard University on a fellowship, where he fulfilled his dream of writing a truthful biography of China's long serving premier (311-315). Born on March 5, 1898 in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, Zhou was born into a cultured and well-educated family that suffered from the hard economic times sweeping across China. Since his uncle was dying of tuberculosis and had no heirs, at six months old, Zhou was given over to his uncle and aunt to rear as their son. This was not an unusual arrangement since he was raised in a household which included his natural birth parents as well as his grandmother. Essentially, Zhou was raised with two mothers who adored him. His adoptive mother was widowed while he was an infant. She devoted her life to his upbringing; teaching the very intelligent and precocious Zhou to read at three years old. It is also at an early age that Zhou developed one of the most important character traits that embodied his life; his uncanny ability to weather the turbulent political storms that dogged him throughout his life (21-25). Like a cat with nine lives, Zhou's knack to survive any and all difficulties that he was faced with served as the major theme of Gao's biography of Zhou. Zhou honed his survival instincts at an early age, and Gao did an excellent job of illuminating Zhou's survival skills throughout all the stages of his life. Orphaned at ten, by the time he was twelve years old, Zhou was sent off to northeastern China to an excellent school by an uncle. Gao pointed

This book has tons of inside information about Zhou En Lai and his times but it is written with the assumption that the reader already knows modern Chinese history well. Ergo I enjoyed it, but I have decided not to assign it to my class. Without knowing the "standard story" this behind the scenes look is hard to follow. But for one who does know the terrain, it is of great interest.