Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), was Mao’s longest serving companion at the top of the Chinese Communist Party. Born in Jiangsu province and raised in Tianjin, Zhou also spent a significant amount of time abroad in Japan and France, where he met Deng Xiaoping. While Zhou outranked Mao at times in the early days of the party, he… Read more »
After the catastrophic failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao is forced briefly to the sidelines and more moderate voices–Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi– take over. While not directly involved in day-to-day party affairs, Mao’s influence remained. He found a new ally, a fellow Hunanese General, Lin Biao, who became his sidekick for… Read more »
As China was suffering through the Great Leap Forward internally, Mao also attempted to remake the global communist power structure. Mao did not respect Russia’s new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, who Mao felt lacked revolutionary zeal. Relations between the two communist powers soured, as Mao’s extremism and belligerence increased.