He worked day and night and slept for no more than three hours during a 24 hour period, tirelessly devoting himself to meticulous and onerous work for the rise of the ‘sleeping dragon’. Zhou Enlai, a name remembered by most Chinese people, a name demanding admiration and respect, a name written in the history of the Republic of China. He displayed the greatest moral leadership and his intelligence, integrity, thriftiness and loyalty were highly remarkable. We follow him, admire him, and worship him.
He was the Prime Minister; but he was also an ordinary worker, this latter aspect he displayed on numerous occasions for example,
can you imagine the leader of a country wearing clothes full of patches? Although China was poor at that time it certainly did not mean that Zhou Enlai could or should not wear clothes befitting his position. His office was a humid, old and dark bungalow but when his secretary sent out applications for repair all were rejected by Zhou. His valets commented that, he did not look like the Prime Minister at all; he appeared as a worker, just like everyone else. Once he went to Hangzhou on business, during which time the local officers secretly sent some fresh vegetables to his valets to give him. When he discovered this, he criticised the valets and sent money to the officers for the groceries.
Zhou Enlai was suave and urbane; with a moderating influence he promoted a sensible and effective state administration and foreign policy. After the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Zhou was mainly responsible for China's foreign policy; he projected a distinguished face for China. This is evinced strongly in the transcript recently released by the United States of his ‘behind-closed-doors’ talks with President Richard Nixon in Beijing. During these discussions, which eventually lead up to the establishment of formal relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, Zhou was very much a gentleman,...