The Story of Zhou Enlai
The Story of Zhou Enlai () is a 2013 Chinese Historical period drama film written by Tian Yunzhang and Jiang Yue and directed by Chen Li. Based on the life of Premier Zhou Enlai between May 3 and May 7, 1961, when he investigated extensively and scientifically the rural situation in Huaxi of Guiyang and the old revolutionary base Boyan Township of Hebei, it stars Sun Weimin as Zhou Enlai and Hao Yan as Zhou's wife Deng Yingchao, with He Wei, Bai Qing, Chu Zhibo, and Niu Ben. The film premiered in China on 16 July 2013.
Zhou Enlai
A popular saying within China once compared Zhou to a "budaoweng" (a tumbler), which can imply that he was a political opportunist. Some observers have criticized him as being too diplomatic: avoiding clear stands in complex political situations and instead becoming ideologically elusive, ambiguous, and enigmatic. Several explanations have been offered to explain his elusiveness. Dick Wilson, the former chief editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, writes that Zhou's only option "was to go on pretending to support the [Cultural Revolution] movement, while endeavoring to deflect its successes, blunt its mischief and stanch the wounds it was inflicting." This explanation for Zhou's elusiveness was also widely accepted by many Chinese after his death. Wilson also writes that Zhou "would have been hounded out of his position of influence, removed from control of the Government" were he to "make a stand and demand that Mao call off the campaign or bring the Red Guards to heel."