Zhou Enlai and His Times

A Talk with Dr. Chen Jian

Dr. Chen Jian is Distinguished Global Network Professor of History, New York University and NYU-Shanghai. He also holds Hu Shih Professor of History Emeritus at Cornell University and Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His most recent book is Zhou Enlai: A Life (Harvard University Press, 2024).

Zhou Enlai was China's premier for twenty-seven years. Although overshadowed by Chairman Mao, his influence in his o w n time a n d since has been vast. Supported by extensive and critical multilingual and multiarchival research, Chen Jian reconstructs how Zhou used his administrative/bureaucratic skill and wisdom of political centrism not only to mitigate the damage caused by Mao's utopian visions and continuous-revolution programs but also to create conditions for the coming of the "reform and opening-up" era after Mao's passing that have made China a superpower into the 21st century.