Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai at the dawn of the People's Republic

Abstract

As the founders of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai dedicated themselves to the construction of the new country. Mao Zedong drew up the overall strategies for China and Zhou Enlai was responsible for their concrete implementation. They had good working relations. At the same time, Mao and Zhou had different opinions and disagreed on certain issues, as it was natural to have different perspectives and thinking. Despite sharing a common objective to carry out a socialist modernization, they slightly disagreed on priorities.

Keywords:

• Mao Zedong
• Zhou Enlai
• People's Republic of China

Notes

1. Guo Moruo, Hongbo qu (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1979), 206–7.

2. Nie Rongzhen, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu [Memoirs of Nie Rongzhen] part II (Beijing: Zhanshi chubanshe, 1984), 749.

3. Party Literature Research Centre, CCCPC, Zhou Enlai shuxin xuanji [A Collection of Letters by Zhou Enlai] (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1988), 474.

4. Party Literature Research Centre, CCCPC, Mao Zedong wenji [Collected Works of Mao Zedong ] vol. 7 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1999), 23.

5. Party Literature Research Centre, CCCPC, Zhou Enlai xuanji [Collected Works of Zhou Enlai] part II (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1984), 159, 160, 181.

6. Ibid., 412.

7. Ibid., 191.

8. Ibid., 233, 235.

9. Record of Mao Zedong's Talk Given during the Second Plenary Session of the 8th Party Congress on 15 November 1956.

10. Record of Mao's Talk Given at the Nanjing Conference, 11 January 1958.

11. Bo Yibo, Revisiting a Few Major Decisions and Incidents (Ruogan zhongda juece yu shijian de huigu) part II (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe, 1993), 638.

12. Record of Mao Zedong's Speech Given at the Enlarged Meeting of the CCCPC Politburo, 9 March 1958.