Video Related To: Zhou Enlai

Perhaps no 20th century Chinese leader is as beloved inside China or respected abroad as much as Zhou Enlai. Born into a humble scholar family in Jiangsu province on March 5, 1898, Zhou's talents were recognised early when he became the first fully sponsored student at the famous Nankai University in Tianjin . He was later educated in Japan and Europe, and in France he helped set up the Communist Party. On his return to China he became a Politburo member at the age of 28. Already an exceptional negotiator, he represented the party in many important negotiations with the Kuomintang and foreign countries. He grew familiar with foreign diplomats and journalists when he became the party representative in Chongqing - the wartime capital of China. Zhou became premier when the People's Republic was established in 1949 and served in the position till his death in 1976. He also served as foreign minister until 1958, during which he laid the foundations of Chinese foreign policy which are still adhered to today. He declared the five principles for peaceful co-existence in 1953 as the fundamentals of China's foreign policy - which emphasised "mutual respect" and "non-interference". He headed the Chinese delegation to the Geneva conference in 1954 and helped secure a truce in Indochina, and the independence of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. At the Bandung conference in Indonesia in 1955, the first large-scale Asia-Africa meeting of many newly independent countries, China announced the <b>...</b>