ElyaDatabase ID Number: T001

Creator: Chen Jian, Cornell University

Premier Zhou Enlai, since his death in 1976, has been presented as the most farsighted and humane of Chinese Communist leader, effective the PRC’s only secular saint. However, historical sources are hinting that he might be as deeply implicated as Chairman Mao Zedong in the disasters of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution that consumed tens of millions of lives. Professor Chen Jian introduced his upcoming biography of Zhou and explained how Zhao’s life showcases the paradoxes of Chinese revolution.