Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary

Zhou Enlai's story carries the tragedy of Communist China's political system. He was an extremely complex man, difficult to define and even more so to understand without a full analysis of the hardships that plagued his country, as he traded his humanity for complete dedication to the regime that destroyed him. Premier of the Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976, Zhou Enlai is one of the greatest legends in recent Chinese political history.

In Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary , Gao Wenqian constructs the first human portrait of the premier. He gives him credit for mitigating the impact of Mao's measures, protecting a considerable number of people, maintaining the country's progress, attempting to restore the economy, and promoting important advances in foreign relations. He makes it clear that without his support, Mao would not have been able to maintain power for so long.

Wenqian came a long way to see his work published. The son of a counterrevolutionary, he lived as a political outcast—without any rights, such as attending university, serving in the army, or living in cities. But he became a researcher and writer for the Chinese Communist Party's secretive Central Documentation Research Agency, where he gained access to archives not yet open to the public. And to Zhou's incredible trajectory.

Here, the author shows how Zhou's incredible ability to adapt to Mao's fickle moods allowed him to survive the Cultural Revolution relatively unscathed. Though endowed with intelligence and physical endurance like other revolutionary leaders, Zhou was singular in his ability to tolerate dishonor in pursuit of long-term goals. The tragedy was that he failed to pursue something greater than loyalty to Mao. The most flexible of Chinese applied all his rigidity here.

Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary makes a huge contribution to understanding one of the most economically important countries today. A detailed behind-the-scenes look at the Cultural Revolution through the eyes of one of its leading activists. Understanding him means gaining a privileged perspective on a decisive chapter in 20th-century history.