Word: chou
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Bonapartism. Lin's fall and Chou's move to the forefront is the latest turn in the long and often murky history of political combat in Peking. The regime reached its peak of strength and unity in the years just following the 1949 takeover. But in the mid-1950s, Mao began launching his doomed experiments: the brief Hundred Flowers liberalization, which resulted in persistent "indiscipline" in the party ranks, and the Great Leap Forward, which was an economic fiasco. Mao's mistakes opened the way for challenges to his power by ambitious or disenchanted rivals. After...
With the Tide. Preoccupied mainly with foreign policy and economic matters, Chou has hardly begun to try to put Mao's regime back together. He has brought some old, trusted comrades out of retirement, among them former Marshal Yeh Chien-ying, a Long March veteran, who was abruptly trotted up to the No. 4 position in the Politburo and has been on hand at Henry Kissinger's visits. Out in the provinces, where Mao was trying to put civilians back into key party positions (following his dictum that "the gun must never be allowed to control the party...
...Chou's task is complicated by the fact that he has no political following. no power base other than his close, 40-year relationship with Mao Tse-tung. In the past, those have been assets. Chou has been on the Politburo for 42 years, longer (by three years) than Mao; this durability reflects his skill at avoiding passionate commitments to policies or dogma. In that sense, Chou is utterly unlike Mao. "Chou is a conformist," says Rand Corp. Sinologist Thomas Robinson. "He often swims with the tide. Mao wants to cause-and, if necessary, reverse-the tide...
...Time to Stop." Chou found the currents he wanted to swim with early in his life. Sun Yat-sen's democratic revolution against the crumbling Manchu dynasty was just getting under way when Chou (pronounced Joe) was born into a family of impecunious gentry...
Chekiang, a rural province south of Shanghai. As a teenager, young Chou organized a student society called Ching-yeh lo-chün (meaning "Respect Work and Enjoy Group Life"). He studied Marxism in Japan, founded Chinese Communist youth groups in France and Germany. By the time he was 30, Chou was a full-fledged member of the Politburo. During the harsh Long March, Chou established his lasting relationship with Mao. When Mao swept into Peking in 1949, Chou was ready with plans for China's new Communist government. On more than one occasion during the early struggles with...