Chou En-lai (1898-1976) was a Chinese Communist leader and premier of the People's Republic of China. From the 1920s on Chou was among the top leaders of the Chinese Communist party.

Chou En-lai was born in Huaian, Kiangsu Province, into a landed family. Both of his parents died while he was a child, and Chou was sent to live with an uncle in Mukden, where he was given a traditional primary education.

Early Foreign Travels

In 1917 Chou went to Japan to continue his education. He joined in the activities of a nationalistic Chinese student organization and was introduced to Marxist thought through Japanese sources. When the May Fourth student movement broke out in 1919, he returned to Tientsin to join in the active political ferment among Chinese students. He enrolled at Nank'ai University, where he became editor of a radical student newspaper. Early in 1920 he was arrested with other...