Volume 56, Number 9 · May 28, 2009
The Mystery of Zhou Enlai
By Jonathan D. Spence
Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary: A Biography
by Gao Wenqian, translated from the Chinese by Peter Rand and Lawrence R. Sullivan
PublicAffairs, 345 pp., $27.95; $16.95 (paper)
Through the ups and downs of the unpredictable Chinese Revolution, Zhou Enlai's reputation has seemed to stand untarnished. The reasons for this are in part old-fashioned ones: in a world of violent change, not noted for its finesse, Zhou Enlai stood out as elegant, courteous, even courtly; and with his remarkable good looks and fluent intelligence, he seemed to personify the mannerisms of diplomats from a gentler age. At the same time, Zhou's reputation benefited from the apparently profound contrasts with Mao Zedong, who loved to thrust himself forward into the limelight, and never shrank from taking credit for China's perpetual upheavals.
Review, 3620 words
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