History of China

To judge a leader after his death, the only way is to evaluate what he had done that causes permanent changes to the lives of those he led. Sometimes, however, proves are few and there is myth between fact and belief that this method may yield inconsistent results depend on who the judges are. In China, Mao Zedong was, and will likely to be the forever Great Father of the country who had sacrificed so much for its independence and glory. But beyond China’s border, across the Pacific Ocean, he is a dictator who held responsible for the suffering of millions. To judge a leader fairly, both the views of his supporters and his enemies must be considered. During the eventful 20^th century, there are no Chinese leaders that could win approval globally, except Premier Zhou Enlai, the leader that shaped the destiny of China in a least disastrous way.

Born to an upper class family in 1899, Zhou Enlai did not suffer from poverty or hunger like most other revolutionaries. During his childhood, there were many chained events, most notably the collapse of the Imperial Rule after thousands of years of dominance and the rise of the first Democratic government in China. At the age of 17, he was opened to the outside world by studying oversea in Japan; then became an activist and for the first time be involved in political movement. In later years, Zhou Enlai travelled to France, Britain and Germany, where he experienced the democratic but highly divided classes’ society at that time. This period shaped Zhou Enlai into a highly skilled and intellectual leader.

The chaotic period since Sun Yat-sen’s Death on 12 March 1925 until the victory of the China Communist Party over the Koumintang in 1949 marked the struggle for power of the CCP and the remarkable contribution of Zhou Enlai for the Party. Upon his return to China on 1924, Zhou Enlai joined the CCP-KMT alliance. After the split of the CCP and the KMT, he followed the CCP and was elected into the ruling Politburo. This internal break signaled the civil war between the two most prominent political parties of China, each pursued a different ideology. The war was forced to stop temporarily because of the invasion of Japan, though Chiang Kai-shek-leader of the KMT wanted to crush the CCP more than fight the Japanese. In this crucial moment, Zhou Enlai helped in the Sian Incident-the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek and then negotiated the reunion between the CCP and the KMT to fight against Japan, which resulted in the formation of the Second CCP-KMT United Front. While working as a leading member of the United Front, he also launched a campaign to seek the CPC extensive supports from international personages. After the victory of the Chinese force over Japan in 1945, the CCP with popular supports continued to win the KMT and ended the Civil War in 1949.

On October 1, 1949, along with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Zhou Enlai became the first Premier and Foreign Minister of the country. Looking back at that time of turbulence which China was scattered by wars, it is acknowledged that without Zhou Enlai and the Sian Incident, the KMT would be able to crush the CCP and the people of China would suffered even more from the Japanese force.

As the first Foreign Minister of China, Zhou Enlai continued to work restlessly to archive international recognition for China. With the USSR, he assisted Mao Zedong in negotiating with Stalin and forging with the Soviet Union the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance in February 1950. Zhou Enlai also played a key role in the decision-making of China to enter the Korean War in October 1950. This event greatly affected the fate of Korea. Without the help of the People’s Army of China, the US army might have succeed in capturing North Korea and unite the country under the Republic of Korea. Zhou Enlai then held direct responsibility for the ceasefire of the war, which was an effort to popularize China’s peaceful foreign policies. He put forward the five principles of peaceful coexistence, such as "mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference into each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence''. Zhou Enlai also increased China’s influence with the West as he visited the Soviet Union, Poland, and Hungary in January 1957 after the Poland-Hungary Incident to correct mistakes made by the Soviet Union. He improved relationship of China with America by hosting President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. China represented by Zhou Enlai appeared as a friendly country which wishes to maintain harmonic relations with the outside world but also as a powerful and determined nation which would go to war to protect its border, its ideology.

Zhou Enlai had always been the man behind Mao Zedong when it came to politic. For a long time Zhou Enlai had been supporting Mao despite some of his notorious policies such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural revolution which caused the suffering of millions. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s popularity fell, which forced him to admit his mistake and step down as China’s Chairman. To regain his authority, Mao Zedong initiated the Cultural Revolution, which aimed to revolutionized Chinese society and remove Mao’s political opponents. At first, Zhou Enlai supported the campaign but then he became concerned when fighting broke out between the Red Guards and the revisionists. In order to achieve peace, by the end of 1966 he called for an end to these attacks on party officials. With the help of Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping survived the purge who later rose to become the leader of China after Mao. His various reforms and economic policies helped China became the fastest growing economy in the world.

After all, the question remains is: how to judge Zhou Enlai? Was he also a dictator who supported Mao Zedong constantly during his time in power? Or was he a justified revolutionary who worked so hard for the happiness and prosperity of the people he led? There are myths about the fact behind China’s First Premier, but there is no doubt that without Zhou Enlai, China could have turned out to be very different from what we see today; and there is a high chance that life would have been much worse there.