News Plus慢速英语:周恩来总理逝世38周年 回顾总理光辉一生

You're listening to News Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Finally, a piece of history revisited. January 8th this year marks the 38th anniversary of the death of late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
Zhou was the first Premier of China, serving from 1949 until his death in 1976.
Zhou was instrumental in consolidating the party's rise to power, forming foreign policy, and developing the economy.
Advocating peaceful coexistence with the West, Zhou participated in the 1954 Geneva Conference and helped orchestrate Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China.
Zhou is best known as the long-time top aide to the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, specializing in foreign policy. Their contrasting personalities made them an effective team. That is according to Henry Kissinger, the American diplomat who had extensive dealings with both men.
After discovering that he had bladder cancer, Zhou began to pass many of his responsibilities on to the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
Zhou died in January 8th, 1976, eight months prior to the death of Mao. The whole country was plunged into mourning.
Zhou had willed his ashes to be scattered across the hills and rivers of his hometown, rather than stored in a ceremonial mausoleum.