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Zhou Enlai: A Life
A Financial Times Best Book of the Year
The definitive biography of Zhou Enlai, the first premier and preeminent diplomat of the People's Republic of China, who protected his country against the excesses of his boss--Chairman Mao. Zhou Enlai spent twenty-seven years as premier of the People's Republic of China and ten as its foreign minister. He was also its legendary spymaster. Richard Nixon proclaimed him "the greatest statesman of our era." Yet Zhou has always been overshadowed by Chairman Mao. Chen Jian brings Zhou into the light, offering a nuanced portrait of a revolutionary and master diplomat whose vision shaped China and the broader world. Born to a declining mandarin family in 1898, Zhou received a classical education and as a teenager spent time in modernizing Japan. Zhou embraced communist revolution as a vehicle for China's own development, yet Zhou was never a committed Maoist. While he worked closely with the chairman, he used his extraordinary political and bureaucratic skill to mitigate the damage caused by Mao's radicalism and maintain China's international standing. When Zhou died in 1976, the China we know today was not yet visible on the horizon. He never saw a glistening Shanghai skyline or the emergence of Chinese capitalism. But the Chinese influence now felt in every corner of the globe rests on Zhou's work.Book Details
- Publisher: Belknap Press
- Publish Date: Jan 13rd, 2026
- Pages: 840
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.18in - 6.18in - 1.72in - 2.61lb
- EAN: 9780674303492
- Categories: • Presidents & Heads of State• Political• Historical
About the Author
Chen, Jian: - A leading scholar of the Cold War and the history of modern China, Chen Jian is Distinguished Global Network Professor of History at New York University and NYU Shanghai; Hu Shih Professor of History Emeritus at Cornell University; and Zijiang Distinguished Visiting Professor at East China Normal University.
Praise for this book
Vividly stages [the enigma of Zhou Enlai] in all its complexity so that readers are forced to wrestle with Zhou's paradoxes on their own. Chen's prodigious research using Chinese, English, and Russian sources helps him paint an old-fashioned but enthralling narrative. Free of the kind of jargon and theoretical gibberish that strangles much other academic writing, [this] biography brings twentieth-century Chinese history alive in new and very personal ways.--Orville Schell "Foreign Affairs" (8/20/2024 12:00:00 AM)
Chen Jian has published a monumental biography of Zhou Enlai that makes him the pre-eminent scholar of the contemporary Chinese diaspora. [This] book, a comprehensive portrait of Zhou that took twenty years to research and write, will change [the way Zhou is perceived in the West]. Rather than merely applauding or attacking Zhou, it sets out to understand him at a level no previous work has approached...a compelling narrative.--Perry Anderson "London Review of Books" (9/12/2024 12:00:00 AM)
A life of Zhou Enlai...can be nothing less than an exploration of China's history during the greater part of the 20th century. Chen Jian has drawn on such an astonishing wealth of sources in Chinese archives and elsewhere that it is difficult to see how his biography could ever be bettered.--Philip Snow "Literary Review" (6/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)
A lucid, well-researched narrative...a satisfyingly fine-grained account of an influential figure often lost in Maoʼs shadow.-- "Publishers Weekly" (3/22/2024 12:00:00 AM)
Chen delivers an authoritative, incisive look at an unquestionably significant historical figure. An excellent biography and capable deconstruction of the labyrinthine mechanics behind the CCP's development.-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)" (2/29/2024 12:00:00 AM)
Enlightening and moves along briskly...describes [Zhou's] initiatives with clarity and detail.--Lucy Hornby "Los Angeles Review of Books" (5/8/2024 12:00:00 AM)
Magnificent and thoroughly detailed...[a] comprehensive and important work.--Gordon G. Chang "New Criterion" (9/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)
An illuminating work of historical scholarship...one cannot help but come away from [this book] impressed by the enormous breadth of Zhou's work and his unquestioned accomplishments.-- "Chinese Studies International" (12/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)
A useful and engaging biography that turns the spotlight on events that in so many ways shape Chinese politics today.--Linda Jaivin "Inside Story" (10/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)
A model biography of 20th century China...This is a thoroughly entertaining, historically accurate portrayal of Zhou Enlai, consummate diplomat and intellectual giant of the CCP.--A. M. Mayer "Choice" (11/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)
Chen Jian's Zhou Enlai compellingly documents the whims, illusions, and eccentricities of Mao Zedong. I know of no better account of the arbitrary nature--but also the consequent waste--of authoritarian rule.--John Lewis Gaddis, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning George F. Kennan: An American Life
A must-read. Chen Jian's book illuminates Zhou Enlai's life from the earliest years to his final days with nuance, empathy, and scholarly depth. Along the way, he also tells the breathtaking story of Zhou's China. This is a rare work of history shot through with the lived experience, and even occasional pensiveness, of an eminent authority on twentieth-century China.--Sergey Radchenko, author of Two Suns in the Heavens: The Sino-Soviet Struggle for Supremacy, 1962-1967
At last, Zhou Enlai has the full-dress biography he deserves, one that uses rich documentary evidence to make an objective assessment of his enduring influence on twentieth-century China as well as the world. This is a profoundly important work of history.--Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism
Communist China resembles a labyrinth. This brilliant study of Zhou Enlai's life has given us a key and a map to understand it. A masterpiece and a must-read for anyone who cares about China and its impact on the world.--Xu Guoqi, author of Chinese and Americans: A Shared History
This will likely be the standard biography of Zhou Enlai for a generation.--Timothy Cheek "American Historical Review" (9/1/2025 12:00:00 AM)
Impressive...a prodigiously researched narrative.--Melinda Liu "China Books Review" (1/23/2025 12:00:00 AM)