Memorial activities have been taking place at Nanjing’s Meiyuanxincun today, in honour of Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, on this, what would have been his 120th birthday.
Fittingly, today is also the 21st anniversary of the completion of Zhou’s statue in the very same location. It was beside this 3.2-metre high, 900-kilogram likeness, off this tranquil, open courtyard at the eastern end of Nanjing’s Chanjiang Lu, that Zhou and Dong Biwu conducted long-term peace talks with the Kuomintang government.
Today, all walks of life have come to pay their respects and cherish Zhou’s life and achievements. Among them, pictured are student representatives from the Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Commerce.
A native of these parts, Zhou was born in Huai’an, right in the middle of Jiangsu Province. He served as the nation’s Premier, or Prime Minister as the position is also known, from 1949 to 1976, almost three times as long as any other Premier to come after him.
Zhou was also China’s first international diplomat of the modern age, serving as the Chinese Foreign Minister from 1949 to 1958, during which time he participated in the 1954 Geneva Conference and the 1955 Bandung Conference. Later, he helped smooth the waters during disputes with India, the Soviet Union, the U.S.A. and Vietnam. It was also Zhou who assisted in organising the 1972 visit to China by then American President Richard Nixon.
