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.
Former Residence of Zhou Enlai (Huai'an)
The room in which Zhou was born was in the East Messuage. Little Zhou also studied in the East Messuage. The room in which Zhou, his stepmother and his wet nurse resided was also in the East Messuage. The patches in the quilts prove that this family lived a hard life at that time. In the East Messuage, one can also see the old well and the vegetable plot.
Here are mainly displays of calligraphy and paintings. People see calligraphy written by Zhou's grandfather and photos telling the story of little Zhou and contributions he made to the People's Republic of China.
This is where little Zhou and his mothers lived. Zhou is the eldest grandson of his family. His parents gave him the name "Da Luan" (大鸾. It is a kind of bird which is similar to a phoenix. In China, these birds symbolizes auspice and happiness.) He has three mothers. First is his biological mother, Mrs Wang (万十二姑). Mrs Wan was educated in the family school for about 6 years. So she paid attention to Zhou's education. The second mother is Mrs Chen. Mrs Chen is Zhou's adoptive mother and also his aunt. Zhou's uncle was seriously ill and dad no child. In old days in China, there was a saying that of all who lack filial piety, people who has no children are the worst. (不孝有三,无后为大) So the couple adopted Zhou in order to make his uncle happy and remove his disease. (In the old days, it was called "冲喜 Chongxi") Mrs Chen was born to a scholarly family and was a typical Chinese woman. Her father was a Xiu Cai in the Qing Dynasty. So she taught Zhou a lot of knowledge. When he was 4 years old, Mrs Chen taught him some Chinese words and some poetry of the Tang Dynasty. Zhou was sent to the family school at the age of 5. After school, Zhou always listened to Mother Chen telling some historical stories. Zhou read Three Character Classic (三字经), Thousand Character Classic (千字文), Great Learning (大学), The Analects (论语) and Mencius (孟子) with the help of Mother Chen. The third mother of Zhou is Mother Jiang. Mrs Jiang was Zhou's wet nurse. She was a peasant woman. The characters of the plain peasant woman also influenced Zhou a lot. However, his mothers didn't accompany him for a long time. His biological mother died of Pulmonary disease at the age of 35 in 1907. One year later, his adoptive mother Mrs Chen also died. When he was 12, his father's elder brother brought him to the Northeast. As a result, he had to say goodbye to his wet nurse. These three women influenced Zhou Enlai greatly during his life.