Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976 (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This dramatic, admiring biography portrays Chinese Communist premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) as a coolheaded conciliator who tried to curb Mao Zedong's excesses and to introduce democratic reforms. Drawing on her 11 meetings with Zhou, untranslated Chinese sources, interviews and her many trips to China, Han Suyin, historian and novelist, maintains that Zhou, as early as 1948, devised a program for a mixed economy and, in the mid-1950s, attempted to introduce "something like perestroika , Chinese-style," with the Hundred Flowers Movement calling for free discussion and shared decision-making. According to the author, Zhou worked behind the scenes against Mao's Great Leap Forward (1958-1959) and returned countless peasants to their villages. While ostensibly supporting Mao's Cultural Revolution of the '60s, Zhou fought its excesses, saving the lives of many targeted victims, she shows. This vivid biography, filled with close-ups of Nixon, Kissinger, Chiang Kaishek, Stalin, Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping, rewards with its insights into Beijing-Washington and Beijing-Moscow relations.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The late Zhou Enlai occupied a unique position among the legendary leaders of revolutionary China: his practical and noble presence among the many radicals and ideologues endeared him to many Chinese and non-Chinese alike. Suyin, a historian and the author of the 1952 novel, A Many-Splendoured Thing , is no exception, and it is to her credit that her bias does not prevent her from writing an interesting and reasonable biography. She provides little new understanding of this complex diplomat and administrator but does add details to his activities, drawing on her many interviews with Zhou's subordinates and contemporaries, as well as 11 meetings with Zhou himself. An alternative popular treatment is Ed Hammond's well-illustrated Coming of Grace ( LJ 1/15/81), while Dick Wilson's Zhou Enlai (Viking, 1984) and Ronald C. Keith's The Diplomacy of Zhou Enlai (St. Martin's, 1989) provide more serious coverage.
- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 483 pages
• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub; 1st edition (February 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809041510
• ISBN-13: 978-0809041510
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,475,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An important Chinese figure suffers from a poor treatment, September 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976 (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

This is one of the few books available in English about Zhou Enlai, one of the most fascinating and least understood political figures in modern Chinese history.

Unfortunately, author Han Suyin and editor Paul De Angelis fail to bring to life this enigmatic figure who was in many ways responsible for guiding a broken China out of the ashes of Civil War and steering her away from the ill-planned social and economic policies of Mao Zedong.

Han comes from the propaganda school of China writing. In the 60s and 70s she penned forgettable books on the successes of Chinese Communism and the predicted triumph that never happened.

Blame it on the political climate of the day, but unfortunately many of the writing skills and editorial standards learned at that time are still present in the biography of Zhou Enlai. Legitimate interviews and quotes are seldom cited or even identified, while liberal doses of hearsay and legend (especially from the Long March period) are treated as fact. The story of the young man who rose through the ranks of the CCP hierarchy to become the No. 2 man to Mao all too often reads like a rather lengthy party biography with a few doses of insider gossip thrown in for good measure.

More importantly, readers seldom get a chance to see the man behind the public image. The all-important early years are treated as a series of dates and accomplishments in the expatriate CCP cell in France, and his childhood is barely mentioned at all.

His story begs more personal details and impressions from the people who knew him, but Han sticks mainly to the official version of Zhou and the party line on the political struggles of the time. It's a pity, because Han interviewed on several occaisions Zhou's widow and could have used her memories to paint an interesting, behind-the-scenes picture of this powerful figure. For instance, in the Long March period Zhou emerges as a man skilled in the art of compromise - what made him this way? The author either failed to ask the right questions or chose not to include them in this biography.

Other problems include a stiff writing style, a poor story structure, a mediocre translation and editing effort, and an irritating and often incorrect mix of Romanization systems used to spell out Chinese names.

The editor and publisher deserve some of the blame for not developing the idea with the author. They also deserve criticism for accepting and printing a manuscript that clearly needed some major changes.

It didn't have to be this way. "Wild Swans" is proof that great biographical works can be produced by Chinese writers in English. Too bad the people behind Zhou Enlai's only readily available profile in English did not see "Wild Swans" as an inspiration.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976 (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

Han Suyin writes an amazingly detailed account of one of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century. Her prose is fluent and engaging, and the questions which she raises throughout the biography help the reader to grasp a fuller picture of the secretive man whose powerful politics saved China from Western military aggression. For those who are unfamiliar with the history of modern China, Ms. Han patiently describes the events which surrounded and preceded Premier Zhou. She painstakingly describes the politics of those who affected him, and she demonstrates how Zhou led the founding of the world's most populous nation.

Outside of the American media's depictions of Chinese human rights violations and inflitration, few Americans are familiar with matters relating to China. Here is a factual inside account of modern China shown with both its strengths and foibles. Ms. Han writes from her personal interviews with Premier Zhou and his colleagues, and she presents a full picture of both his accomplishments and mistakes. She is careful not to err on the side of exaggeration, though it is apparent that she, like most Chinese in China, revere their nation's former Premier. Americans, especially those who wish to understand the history between China and the U.S., should find this book interesting.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars China's History Through Rainbow Tinted Glasses, January 22, 2007

By	Skip Roads (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976 (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

This book is well written and serves as a good primer for those interested in learning more about the history of China and the life and work of Zhou Enlai. That said, Han Suyin's work is at times whimsical in its description of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party. One gets the idea that she was commissioned by the party to produce it: Not a word is written on Zhou Enlai's involvement in the swift and widespread brutality visited by Mao upon millions of his detractors and alleged detractors.