Chapter 13 7. Zhou Enlai-2

Stalin's formidable foreign minister Vichyslav Molotov once warned an American negotiator: "If you think we are difficult to deal with, then you wait to deal with Zhou Enlai!" But when we approached Zhou Enlai , found that he was not the uncompromising negotiator Molotov said he was.As a loyal Communist, he saw us as ideological enemies: as a practical Chinese, he knew he needed us. We differ greatly.But our common good is greater.Our task is to reduce divisions, not widen them.Chinese leaders wanted to escape the hostility and encirclement they faced because of the breakdown in Sino-Soviet relations.We also saw that the Chinese government was eager to end this state of "angry isolation": at the same time, we saw the opportunity that triangular diplomacy would help contain the Soviet Union.Although the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and the United States is in the common interest of both parties, we must clarify our relationship in the joint communiqué and resolve many technical issues.

During the negotiations, I felt that it was impossible to ask Zhou Silai to suddenly abandon the diplomatic position determined by his ideology.But I also understand that he is a realist who puts national interests above ideology.Because he said to Kissinger: "The helmsman must steer the boat with the current." When Zhou Enlai and I discussed the issue of U.S. forces remaining in Japan and the Pacific, I knew it was a particularly sensitive issue and noted Chinese demands for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Japan and the abolition of the U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty.So I pointed out that even though our policy is against China's ideological principles, it is actually in China's interest.Referring to the Soviet Union, I added: "The United States can withdraw from Japanese waters, but other countries will still profit from it." I continued: Japan should either seek accommodation with the Kremlin, or rearm itself.

I know that Zhou Silai, as a realist, will probably agree with my analysis, but as a theorist, he will not make a clear statement.Sure enough, he responded with characteristic subtlety: he was silent for a moment, then changed the subject without commenting on my opinion.However, none of the people present did not know that Zhou Enlai's silence was an expression of approval. In addition to lunches, dinners, and other public events, I met with Zhou Silai for more than fifteen hours in face-to-face formal talks.Four traits left an indelible impression on me: his energy; his preparation; his negotiating skills; and his poise under pressure.

His energy is amazing.I noticed that in some longer talks, as time went by, the young people on both sides of the talks gradually became sleepy and the translators became slurred, but the 73-year-old Zhou Silai was always responsive, tough and accommodating. Stay on high alert.He never departed from the topic under discussion, never delayed the discussion, and never asked for a break.If the two sides did not agree on the wording of the joint statement in the afternoon meeting, he would not leave the question to his aides, but would work on it with Kissinger himself during the rest of the day or in the evening .The next morning he looked as if he had just returned from a weekend in the country, and was full of energy to tackle big problems.A great sense of power and responsibility keeps him young forever.

Like other leaders I've met, he prepared well for the talks ahead of time, only going back to his aides when he encountered highly technical details. Kissinger once said to me that Zhou Enlai would surprise me with his negotiating skills.He was right.Our talks touched both symbolic and substantive issues.After I met with Mao Zedong, I sat down with Zhou Silai for the first round of talks.At this meeting, Zhou Enlai raised a symbolic question, very subtly testing my intentions, in order to find out whether I had given up the point of view I had strongly insisted on in the past when I came to China this time.

Zhou Silai: "In the afternoon, you told Chairman Mao that we finally shook hands today. However, John Dulles didn't want to do that." "But you said you didn't want to shake hands with Dulles," I replied. "Not necessarily," Zhou Silai said, "I'd rather shake hands with him. "Okay, let's shake hands!" I said, reaching across the table to shake his hand again. Zhou Enlai seemed very interested in this question.He continued: "At that time, Mr. Walter Biddle Smith, Dulles' assistant, wanted to take a different approach, but he did not dare to break Dulles' precepts. So he held a coffee cup in his right hand. Since he could not shake hands with his left hand , so he only shook my arm with his left hand." Hearing this, everyone present laughed.Zhou Enlai went on to say: "However, we did not blame you at that time, because the prevailing view in the world at that time was that socialist countries were monolithic, and Western countries were also monolithic. Now we understand that this is not the case."

I agree with Zhou Enlai, saying, "We have broken through the old boxes. We look at each country according to what it does, rather than lumping it with the international bloc it belongs to because they hold the same to describe them as a dark mass of philosophical views. I should be frank with the Prime Minister that I served in the Eisenhower administration. Views were similar to those of Mr. Dulles. However, the world has changed since then. People's Republic of China The relationship with the United States must also change." Zhou Silai was tough and uncompromising, but he was flexible in bridging the differences between China and the United States.On the Taiwan issue in the communiqué, the views between China and the United States are far apart.We are not willing to abandon Taiwan, nor can we abandon Taiwan: Zhou Silai is unwilling and impossible to give up his unambiguous claim to sovereignty over Taiwan.

He wanted to use the Sino-US joint communiqué to affirm China's request.The Sino-US communiqué was indeed a remarkable achievement, which should be mainly attributed to Kissinger and Zhou Enlai.The two sides finally reached a compromise agreement, that is, both sides stated their respective positions in a communiqué in calm words. Zhou Enlai, who always focused on the first issue, understood that the new relationship between China and the United States was obviously far more important than the Taiwan issue. up. In all our meetings, Zhou Enlai was calm and composed, in stark contrast to Zhang Xiaofu's antics and Brezhnev's affectations.He never raised his voice, knocked on the table, or threatened to break off negotiations to force concessions. When I revisited China in 1976, I specifically told Mrs. Zhou Enlai about the most outstanding impression of her husband on me: he was always so firm and polite, and when he "had cards in his hand", he spoke The voice became softer instead.

Zhou's composure is, I think, mainly due to his education and his experience, but also reflects the level of mastery he has achieved.Zhou Enlai never felt the need to show his manliness in front of his assistants, as the Soviet leader so clearly did. Zhou Silai's conversations were not as rich and colorful as those of Mao Zedong, but he sometimes had quite vivid imaginations when he talked about certain issues.When we drove from the airport to the hotel in Beijing, he said succinctly: "You stretched out your hand from the shore of the ocean and shook my hand. We have not been in touch for 25 years."

Zhou Enlai is good at writing poems, and sometimes uses poems to express his feelings.When talking about the 1972 U.S. presidential election, he hoped that I would win, and mentioned a poem written by Mao Zedong entitled "Song of Mei", saying: "In this poem, Chairman Mao means that those who pioneered Those who make a career are not necessarily those who reap the fruits. When the flowers are in full bloom, they are about to wither." Zhou Silai continued, "This time you started, but you may not see its final victory. But , we will welcome you to visit again." During our last long meeting in a hotel in Beijing, Zhou Enlai again quoted poems to illustrate his point.He said: "In the restaurant above you, there is a handwritten "Photograph of the Immortal Cave on Lushan Mountain" written by Chairman Mao. The last sentence is: The infinite scenery is on the dangerous peak. You came to China at a certain risk. However, as stated in the poem , On the dangerous rock, there is an infinitely beautiful scenery." The poetic talents of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong are also uncommon among great leaders.The most successful politics are more poetic than beautiful prose.

Negotiations between Zhou Enlai and the Nationalist and American mediators during the Chinese Civil War provided the necessary conditions for Communist victory.His delaying tactics bought precious time for the Red Army's strength to grow.He pretended to be willing to compromise, leaving Chiang Kai-shek's American guarantor in a passive position. A Kuomintang official in Taiwan even said to me: "During the civil war, as long as Zhou Silai was on our side, Mao Zedong might be in exile in Taiwan today; it might be us who live in Beijing." Regardless of whether the official's words were exaggerated, he was right about one thing: Mao Zedong's role in the Chinese revolution had been overestimated in the past.Mao Zedong could not have conquered and ruled China single-handedly.Whether Zhou Enlai could have achieved such success without Zhou Enlai is a question worthy of study.The point to remember is that it was not Mao Zedong alone but the cooperation of both him and Zhou Enlai that won China. Mao Zedong, a peasant, rebelled against landlords and warlords; Zhou Enlai, an intellectual, opposed inequality and foreign aggression.Each of them represented two major forces in Chinese society united in the communist revolution. Although the cooperation between Mao and Zhou was a major event in Chinese history, it did not go smoothly at the beginning.When Zhou Enlai arrived in Mao Zedong's Jiangxi base in 1931, he was a loser in urban riots.He quickly took over military command.Many years later, Mao Zedong recalled that during this period he "had no say in the party." When the Kuomintang army drove the Red Army out of the Jiangxi base and the Red Army began the Long March, Mao worked with Zhou to chart the marching route back and the strategy and tactics of the Red Army.During the 25,000-mile Long March, Zhou Enlai supported Mao Zedong politically and helped Mao Zedong be promoted to the chairman of the Communist Party of China.Their partnership finally took shape, and for the next forty-two years it became known to the world. After they came to power, this kind of cooperation was between mutual confrontation and mutual dependence, and there was a wavering situation.In Mao Zedong's view, the world is full of contradictions and is often in a state of instability.Mao Zedong regarded struggle above all else. Zhou Enlai was a more pragmatic person, and he emphasized more on the need to selectively achieve specific results through struggle.Zhou Enlai used his excellent administrative skills and inexhaustible energy to fight against the great inertia of China's 50 million bureaucrats, and achieved a degree of success that enabled Mao Zedong to concentrate on himself and take a detached approach to national leadership. Attitude. Former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka once said, "In front of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai is like a clumsy secretary who is serving a famous congressman." It is hard to imagine that Zhou Enlai, who behaves elegantly, would be clumsy.However, Zhou Silai always retreated to an inconspicuous position when Mao Zedong was present, which may be conscious.Because he understands: coveting Mao Zedong's throne is extremely dangerous. This does not mean that the cooperation between Mao and Zhou lacked mutual trust and respect. Mao Zedong never had the habit of praising his subordinates in public.But there is one thing that can illustrate the deep friendship between the two leaders, Mao and Zhou.During the Cultural Revolution, a group of Red Guards labeled Zhou Enlai as "a corrupt agent of the bourgeoisie playing counter-revolutionary double-faced tactics" and demanded to fight against Zhou Enlai.To the demands of the Red Guards, Mao Zedong is said to have replied: "Well then, let me fight with him too." Nine years later, when Zhou Enlai was bedridden and dying, Mao Zedong, who had lived in seclusion for a long time, went to the hospital to spend time with him. His dying hour passed.At that time, apart from the doctor who took care of Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong was the last person who said goodbye to Zhou Enlai. The close collaboration between these two great leaders of China's twentieth century culminated in the triumphant restoration of Sino-American relations in 1972, as the Cultural Revolution drew to a close. When Zhou Enlai accompanied me into Mao Zedong's study room where a large number of books were displayed, I remembered that at a dinner at the White House a few days before I left for Beijing, the French writer Moreaux once said to me: "You will be with a giant. But he is a giant who faces death.” After Mao Zedong and I met, I did not negotiate with him. He was testing my ideas, and I was testing his ideas.He wants to know if my global perspective matches his.He was keen to discern whether American affluence had made Americans impotent, and whether our troubles in Vietnam had decimated us. His body appeared very weak.His secretary helped him to his feet as I entered the room.He said to me apologetically that he could not speak clearly.Later Zhou Enlai told me that it was because he was suffering from bronchitis.But I think it's actually a sequela of a stroke.His skin was unlined, but sickness gave him a waxy complexion.His face was kind but expressionless.His eyes were a little dazed, but sharp.His hands did not look like old hands, not stiff, and the skin was soft.However, due to his advanced age, his energy is obviously weak.Originally, the Chinese side arranged for me to meet with Mao Zedong for only about fifteen minutes.Later, because Mao Zedong was attracted by the topic we discussed, we talked for an hour.I noticed that Zhou Enlai looked at his watch more and more frequently as Mao Zedong began to feel tired. The difference between the two men is also obvious.Zhou Enlai's appearance, words, deeds and manners show that he is a dignified and magnanimous diplomat with noble cultural accomplishment.Mao Zedong, on the other hand, was a stocky, down-to-earth man with a natural appeal.He was the chairman of China, and even in his later years, he was still recognized as the leader. Zhou Enlai was the highest administrative official. Mao Zedong spoke casually and concisely, often omitting unnecessary words.This gave me the impression that he wanted to knead many ideas together in a flash.He stated his views in a calm and peaceful tone.This would impress me in small meetings.If great orators do this, they can only invite failure. Even when he was talking about serious issues, Mao Zedong loved to utter shocking words.He laughed heartily and said, "In your last election, I voted for you." I said, then you must be choosing the right path of two evils.He replied cheerfully, "I like the right. People say you are on the right - the Republicans are on the right, and Prime Minister Heath is on the right." I said de Gaulle's name at random.Mao Zedong demurred, saying, "De Gaulle is another matter." He went on to say, "People also say that the Christian Democrats in West Germany are also right. In comparison, I like these right people in power." On the normalization of our foreign relations, I turned around and said, "I think the most important thing worth pointing out in America today is that the right has done what the left can only talk about. At least for now." Mao Zedong often used self-effacing words to euphemistically explain his views.Before my meeting with Mao Zedong, we had a lighthearted conversation while photographers took pictures.Kissinger mentioned that when he was a professor at Harvard University, he once assigned his students to read Mao Zedong's works.Mao Zedong replied, "These works of mine are nothing. What I write has no teachings." I said: Your works have promoted the country and changed the world.Mao Zedong replied: "I have never been able to change the world. At most I can only change a few places in the suburbs of Beijing." When I visited China again in 1976, Mao Zedong's health had seriously deteriorated.His words sounded like mumbles of monosyllabic words.However, his thoughts are still so quick and profound.He understood everything I said, but when he tried to answer, he couldn't speak.Thinking that the interpreter could not understand him, he impatiently grabbed his notebook and wrote out his arguments.It pained me to see him in this state.No matter what others think of him, no one can deny that he has fought to the last breath. In those years, the United States was suffering from Vietnam War Syndrome and trying to escape its responsibilities as a world power.Mao Zedong asked me a crucial question: "Is peace the only purpose of the United States?" I replied that our purpose was peace, but peace meant more than the cessation of war.I said to Mao Zedong: "It must be a just peace." When dealing with Chinese Communists, we must keep in mind that they are revolutionaries who firmly believe in their interests and ideals and are willing to fight and even die for them.If I emphasized the need for peace and friendship in my answer to Mao Zedong, the Chinese would think we were wrong: worse, they would think we were a bunch of fools.In the end, they will say: If peace is your only purpose, then well, you can have peace whenever you surrender.Therefore, we must reiterate to the Chinese: we will also fight for our interests. Due to the attack of Parkinson's disease, Mao Zedong's actions were very difficult at that time.He is no longer a strong man.The eighty-two-year-old farmer, who walked shaky-footed, was now a shuffling old man.Mao Zedong, like Churchill in his later years, was still very self-respecting.When our conversation was over, his secretaries lifted him from his chair and told him to walk with me toward the door.But when TV cameras and spotlights were turned on us to record my final handshake with him, Mao pushed his assistant away and stood alone at the door saying goodbye to us. Ross Trier said in his commentary on Mao Zedong: "From the outside, Mao Zedong's restlessness is obvious. His balance, if it exists, is also the result of the conflict of opposing personality traits. Mao Zedong in When talking about his personality, he said that he is half tiger and half monkey. The ruthless side and the fanatical idealistic side appear alternately in him. He did not integrate his various personality traits into one like Zhou Silai. Instead, let it develop, pushing Mao Zedong himself in various directions. As the decision maker of national policy, Mao Zedong was impulsive.He gets up very late every day and goes to bed very late.Like Stalin, Mao Zedong often called his subordinates before dawn for trivial matters.He would often break away from his daily work and spend long periods of time alone. Sometimes he would spend hours seeking advice from experts on policy issues, and then stroll into the garden to ask the guards on the same issue. The French writer Moreaux told me that Mao Zedong had the character of a "religious believer". He was full of fantasy and was fascinated by it.Mao Zedong regarded Chinese society as one big family.When someone told him that his son had died on the Korean battlefield, he calmly replied: "Without sacrifice, there would be no victory. My son's sacrifice is exactly the same as that of other people's sons." If If Mao Zedong has monkey spirit, it means that he is dominated by this fantasy.His tiger spirit is reflected in his efforts to realize this fantasy, which shocked China.Mao Zedong hoped that the people would ignite their revolutionary enthusiasm.But he could only tolerate this enthusiasm if it suited Mao's ideas.When they strayed from his path, he used legal constraints and the draconian state police machine to get his way.Mao Zedong did not seem to have grasped until the end that such coercive rule would generate bureaucracy, stifle people's creativity and dampen their self-consciousness. As China's Marx, Lenin and Stalin, Mao Zedong left an indelible mark on history with his superb strategic insight, flexible tactics and daunting means of violence.He revised Marxism by treating the peasantry as a revolutionary class to replace the industrial workers.He revised Leninism by organizing revolutions by organizing soldiers into armies instead of organizing secret groups to stage armed insurrections.He laughed at those who compared his rule with Qin Shihuang's bloody rule, saying: "You want to slander us as Qin Shihuang, but you are wrong, we are more than a hundred times more than Qin Shihuang." And Qin Shihuang's tyranny is China Unmatched by the emperors of all dynasties. With his insight and ruthlessness alone, Mao could not have succeeded in China.He also possessed the charisma of a leader capable of attracting a fanatical following, and the willpower to defy great odds.Mao Zedong's leadership ability comes from his strong will.When I met him, I felt that their willpower was more or less innate.Most of his vivid poems were written during or after the Long March. When he described the exciting struggle scenes, especially the cruel ones, he used the method of inspiring the will, which made people feel more powerful when reading.Because of these qualities, he was able to inspire his comrades to accomplish such epic feats as the Long March, making his comrades an almost invincible team. In 1972, during the meeting with me, Mao Zedong swiped his big hand in front of me, and said to me in a gesture of summarizing our meeting and even summarizing the whole picture of China: "Our common old friend, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, is not In favor of this meeting" After a while, he went on, "The history of our friendship with him is much longer than the history of your friendship." In 1953, I met Chiang Kai-shek for the first time.The generalissimo made a similar gesture when speaking of China, making it clear that his words applied not only to mainland China, but also to his stronghold, Taiwan. I noticed that both Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek adopted a somewhat regal stance when speaking about their countries.The gestures and language used by Mao and Jiang seemed to indicate that the fate of their country was one with their own.These two leaders appeared at the same time in history.There is no compromise between them, only conflict.One becomes a winner and one becomes a loser. Oddly enough, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek were alike in many ways.They are all Orientals. Mao Zedong left China only twice in his life. In 1949 and 1957, he went to Moscow twice to meet Soviet leaders.Chiang Kai-shek only made two trips abroad, leaving Asia: one was to Moscow in 1923, and the other was to Cairo in 1943 to attend the meeting of the top four.The two often lived a reclusive life for long periods of time.Mao Zedong used this time to write poems; Chiang Kai-shek often recited ancient poems while walking in the mountains.Both men were revolutionaries.Mao Zedong rebelled against his domineering father and the whole society, while Chiang Kai-shek rebelled against the corrupt Manchu dynasty at home and the weak and incompetent outside.Interestingly, Chiang Kai-shek cut off his pigtails - a symbol of rebellion - seven years before Mao Zedong. There are both superficial and substantive differences between the two of them. Mao Zedong was lazily lying on the chair, like a sack of potatoes carelessly thrown there, and Chiang Kai-shek was sitting upright, as if his backbone was made of steel.Mao Zedong was very easy-going, unrestrained, and had a great sense of humor in his speech, which made the atmosphere of the conversation very relaxed; when I met with Chiang Kai-shek, I never found him to have any humorous words.Mao Zedong's calligraphy is written in letters and pens without sticking to conventions, while Chiang Kai-shek's calligraphy is straight and square. The difference between the two of them is reflected more profoundly in their patriotic ways. They are all patriotic, Mao Zedong strives to overthrow everything in the past, and Chiang Kai-shek strives to build a new country on the basis of the old.After the victory, Mao Zedong simplified Chinese characters.This is not only for the convenience of writing, but also to eradicate the history written in Chinese characters with complex shapes.At the time of his defeat, Chiang Kai-shek was still making room in the refugee squadron, and nearly 400,000 pieces of ancient Chinese art were shipped by gun (to Taiwan), leaving many of his loyal assistants and soldiers on the mainland. When I first met Mao Zedong, he mentioned that Chiang Kai-shek, in a recent speech, also referred to the Communist leaders as "bandits."I asked Mao Zedong: "What do you call Chiang Kai-shek?" He smiled, and Zhou Silai took over the conversation and replied: "Generally speaking, we call them the Chiang Gang. In newspapers, sometimes we also call Chiang Kai-shek a gangster, and they use the name of a gangster." The title came to pay us back. Of course, this is nothing more than scolding each other." The relationship between Zhou Silai and Chiang Kai-shek was like riding a pulley in a park, with ups and downs.In the early 1920s, when Zhou Silai was working at the Huangpu Military Academy, he was a subordinate of Chiang Kai-shek.It is said that Chiang Kai-shek praised Zhou Enlai as a "wise Communist Party member".A few years later, Chiang Kai-shek offered a reward of 80,000 U.S. dollars for the capture of Zhou Enlai.But on the whole, I was surprised to find that when Zhou Enlai and several other officials mentioned Chiang Kai-shek, their attitude towards Chiang was obviously quite complicated and contradictory.As Communists, they hated Chiang Kai-shek; as Chinese, they respected and even admired Chiang Kai-shek.In all my conversations with Chiang Kai-shek, he never expressed any respect for the Communists. In 1953, I first met Chiang Kai-shek, the third great leader of twentieth-century China.I have maintained contact with him both as Vice President of the United States and as a citizen of the United States, and have developed an extremely valuable personal friendship with him.I speak highly of this friendship.This is why reestablishing diplomatic relations with Beijing has been such a deeply, tortuously personal experience for me. Chiang Kai-shek and his wife often welcomed me to their luxurious residence in Taipei.Madam Chiang acted as an interpreter for the conversations, but she also sometimes participated in the discussions.It would be very good for someone like Madam Jiang who was well educated at Wellesley College in the United States to act as an interpreter.She is very proficient in both Chinese and English, and she is very eloquent. In addition, she has a thorough understanding of her husband's thoughts, so when she encounters no corresponding words and expressions in Chinese or English during translation, she can weigh the profit and loss. Express the original meaning accurately. More importantly, Madame Chiang was much more than just an interpreter for her husband.There has always been a fashion to belittle the historical and personal importance of the wives of leaders, assuming that their fame and prominence were merely the natural consequence of marrying their husbands.This not only ignores the role played by these leaders' wives behind the scenes, but also belittles the character and character they possess.I think Madame Chiang, with her wit, persuasion, and moral strength, could have made herself an important leader. The difference in personality between Madame Chiang and Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong's fourth wife, is greater than the difference between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek.Madame Chiang was a cultured, well-groomed, very feminine yet strong-willed person.Jiang Qing is rude, humorless, and has no femininity at all. She is a gender-neutral, fanatical, typical Communist woman.Whitaker Chambers once told me: "When you meet a couple who believe in communism, you will often find that the woman is the most fanatical of the two." As far as Jiang Qing is concerned, Hui Turk's words are completely in line with the facts.I have never seen a more ruthless and rougher person than Jiang Qing.When I watched with her the cultural propaganda program she specially arranged for me, she looked neither Mao Zedong's enthusiasm nor Zhou Enlai's elegance. She looked so nervous that sweat was beading her forehead and hands.Her first words to me were typical of her unpleasant, belligerent manner.She said, "Why didn't you come to China before?" Deng Yingchao, wife of Zhou Enlai, is a completely different woman from Jiang Qing. I met her in 1972: I saw her again in 1976, shortly after Zhou Enlai's death. Deng Yingchao looks almost as elegant and capable as Zhou Enlai.Apart from her relationship with Zhou Enlai, she herself was and is a dedicated Communist, playing her own role within the party.However, unlike Jiang Qing, Deng Yingchao did not allow the communist ideology to damage her femininity. Interestingly, Zhou Enlai only married one wife in his life, while Mao Zedong had four. The division caused by the Chinese Civil War brought an unfortunate end to the Song family.Mrs. Chiang's father, Charlie Song, became rich by printing and selling Bibles. He has three daughters: Ailing, Meiling and Qingling.Ai Ling married the president of the Bank of China and emigrated to the United States after the fall of mainland China.Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek, fought against the Communists with him, and later went into exile in Taiwan until Chiang Kai-shek's death.Meiling now lives in the United States.Ching Ling married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese revolutionary movement.She sided with the Chinese Communists during the Chinese Civil War and later became a revered role model in the Chinese revolutionary movement.She died in 1981 and was given a state funeral in Beijing. When Chiang Kai-shek proposed to Song Meiling, he was opposed by the Wenxia clan because he was not a Christian.Soong Meiling's family insisted that Chiang Kai-shek could only marry Soong Meiling if he became a Christian.Chiang Kai-shek, who was unwilling to convert easily, said that if he could not freely choose his religion, he would only be a poor Christian.However, he still promised to study the Bible seriously after marrying Song Meiling.In this way, the Wenxia clan agreed. Years later, Chiang Kai-shek converted to Christianity one by one.From then on, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife often prayed together for an hour in the morning.Chiang Kai-shek was not a trustworthy and sentimental person in essence, but he was completely conquered by Soong Meiling soon, and his relationship with her became more and more intimate.In terms of state affairs, Meiling became Chiang Kai-shek's closest confidant.During and after the Second World War, Mei Ling also visited the United States many times as Chiang Kai-shek's personal secret envoy.Her charming, genial demeanor made her an international celebrity and softened Chiang Kai-shek's grim image. Chiang Kai-shek often wore a black cloak and shaved head in private interactions, making him appear more stern and taciturn.When I finished a sentence, he always said "OK, OK," but seemed a little nervous.His eyes are shining, showing his confidence and perseverance.His eyes are black, occasionally shining brightly.Chiang Kai-shek often glanced around the room before I started discussing it.When it came time to talk to me, he just kept looking at me. The difference between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek is also reflected in personal living habits.Everything around Chiang Kai-shek appears to be in order, including his clothes, his office and his family.In every respect, Chiang Kai-shek was a disciplined and organized man.It is no exaggeration to use "tidy" and "clean" to describe the impression he gave to people.Mao Zedong was just the opposite of Chiang Kai-shek. His study was full of books and newspapers.If the neatness and cleanliness of the desk is used as a standard to measure whether an office worker is qualified, then Mao Zedong must have failed.Mao Zedong's disorganized and Chiang Kai-shek's orderly, Mao Zedong's unrestrained and Chiang Kai-shek's orderly, all form a sharp contrast.From the appearance point of view, it is not too much to describe Mao Zedong as "unkempt". Chiang Kai-shek is the rarest of all political figures, a conservative revolutionary.The American Revolution was able to successfully create an orderly, liberal society because its leaders were largely conservative.They fought for the freedom they had gained but lost.Part of the reason for the setback of the French Revolution was that the French leaders wanted to realize a purely rational, abstract fantasy—one that had no basis in the history of the French nation. Chiang Kai-shek's thinking was more similar to that of the United States than it was to that of France.He wants to restore Chinese traditions.He fought against the corruption left over from the ancien regime, opium smoking and the still widespread practice of foot binding.However, despite Chiang Kai-shek's approach to constitutional government, he was not yet a democrat.从蒋介石看来，中国的问题不是民主太少了，而是大多了，这个国家需要的是纪律，一如孙中山所说："中国已经成为一盘散沙。"蒋介石所寻求的纪律将会使中国人民的创造性和生产力得到解放。 他的想法在台湾推行的结果，产生了经济上的奇迹。尽管1965年以前蒋介石一直接受美国的经济援助，但其数量很少。 与台湾爆炸性的经济增长情况相比是微不足道的。对中国人民来说，经济上的统计数字不可能改变共产党人赢得中国大陆这个悲剧，但这些数字毕竟还是很能说明问题的。共产党人实行了农业生产集体化，但今天大陆生产的稻米按每人的平均数来说还低于解放之前。蒋介石采用的办法是：用钱购买地主的土地，然后再把土地分给农民，卖了土地的地主把大量的钱投资到工业方面；政府同时鼓励外国投资。结果，台湾现在人平均收入是大陆的五倍；一千八百万人口的台湾的出口额，大约比十亿人口的大陆的出口额高百分之五十。 蒋介石是一位实干家。他在动荡不定的生涯中，多次获得了成功，因此对自己的判断能力具有绝对自信。他喜欢读儒家学派的哲学家王阳明的著作。王阳明认为："知而不行，实与不知无异。" 1949年蒋介石从大陆溃败了，但这并没有动摇他的自信。 对他来说，这只不过是另一次暂时的挫折罢了。我每次见到他时，他都要谈到光复大陆。他的许多助手对光复大陆已失去希望，但他本人从未失去信心。 蒋介石为自己取了"介石"这个名字，译成英文就是"搬不动的石头"之意。从他的个性来看，这个名字是取得再好也没有了。我非常钦佩他的决心。他从来不相信应该在任何"不可避免之事"面前屈服——它们只不过是看起来难以避免而已。经常有人会对某一个社会活动家说：他的目标是不可能达到的。这些人缺少创造性的远见。他们经常把某些事情看作是不可能实现的，究其原因只不过是以前没有人做过而已。蒋介石对此十分清楚。他曾经写道："敌人总是包围着我，有时他们的力量还超过我。但是我知道如何忍耐。" 尽管蒋介石的性格很顽强，但他还是有很多失算之处。不过，象大陆失守这样的悲剧，也不应该只归咎于某一个人。蒋介石仍不失为一个杰出的政治家和军事家。可是，由于他一丝不苟地照搬书本，使他成为一个平庸的战略家。在一个假定的战略设想的范围之内，他的判断是敏捷而又果断的。他只照他所知道的章程行事。如果这些设想的情况没有变化的话，几乎没有什么人战胜他。但他很难超越这些设想的框框一步，因而也不能提出向旧战略挑战的新战略。许多历史人物对他们所处的时代的各种框框都提出了挑战。虽然历史中充满了某些人物的革新在当时是不合时宜的记载，但历史毕竟还是由那些善于利用时代的机缘进行革新的人谱写的。毛泽东就属于后面这种人。这正是蒋介石的不幸所在。 在蒋介石的军队出师北伐以用武力统一中国之时，这个国家一部分控制在外国人手里，一部分为军阀所割据，还有一部分处于各自为政的无政府主义状态。蒋介石逐步取得进展，组成了一支中国最强大的军队。若干年后，他被宣布为统一的中国的统治者。 但是，这种统一更多的是名义上的，而不是实质上的。蒋介石虽然使他的对手屈服了，但并未征服他们，他同意让他的对于按照中国的传统方式，既臣服于他这位上司，又与他结为盟友，以此保全对方的面子。这也许是他最大的错误。马基雅维利也许应该告诫蒋介石：不应该让军阀继续当政和指挥他们的军队。因为这样会使蒋介石的征服得不到保证。忠诚只有通过下级对上级的依赖才能够实现。 也许马基雅维利是对的。蒋介石从来没有全面地控制过中国。他的部队穷于应付，以求维持国家的统一。如果他要向中国某个地方增调部队的话，另一地方的军阀就会以脱离政府相威胁。结果，蒋介石一天到晚忙于对付各地军阀提出的挑战。 这使他一直不能让他的军队的将士们复员，更没有集中足够的精力和国家资源去实现经济的现代化和改革。蒋介石最大的失策是：他从未调集全部兵力去对付过共产党。总而言之，他的战略的结局是：顾了面子，丢了中国。 毛泽东没有犯这种错误。他在取得革命胜利后，紧接着又在大陆上的每个地区确立共产党对每一级组织的控制权。 事实上，历史将会把这一成就当作毛泽东最大的成就记录下来。 周恩来在历史上的功绩就难于评说了。在内战期间，他对共产党赢得胜利作出了巨大的贡献。但在1949年胜利之后，周思来不过是毛泽东所信任的几个助手之一。他想通过进行循序渐进的经济现代化的方法，把意识形态和实用主义融合在一起。但毛泽东在政策上的摇摆多变，使周思来的努力屡遭挫败。 周思来还试图把共产党中国冷酷无情的生活变得温和一些，允许有一定程度上的自由讨论，给中国社会注入贝克所说的"毋需用钱买来的优雅生活"。周恩来几乎是独力为此而奋斗的。 但他的这种努力也失败了。 在外交上，周恩来赢得了极大的声誉。他引导着一个潜在的能力远远大于其现有实力的国家。但是，他从未利用过任何机会为自己在历史上留下一点痕迹。1976年，在周恩来去世后不久，我又见到了他的遗孀。我对邓颖超说，不需要建立一个纪念碑来纪念周恩来，因为历史学家将会把他维护全球战略平衡的所作所为当作他的遗嘱，以证明他的伟大。当时，我试图概括周思来非凡的经历，说："人们看不到的东西，往往要比看得到的东西更有意义。" 在我与周恩来和毛泽东的谈话中，他们两人几乎都提到他们要做的工作还很多，但余下的时间却很少了。他们一再提到年龄问题，使我感觉到：周、毛二人都知道他们的日子不多了。 他们两人的苦恼可能是共同的；但是，他们的眼界和使命却不相同。 在他们的最后年月里，这两人也不是向着同一目标前进的。据说，在周恩来的晚年，后来被称为"四人帮"的帮派要迫使周恩来下台，这可能还得到毛泽东的默许。周恩来预料毛泽东死后可能会出现权力之争，因此，他一声不响地把支持他的政策的人尽可能多地安置到重要的岗位上去。毛泽东的晚年则是在一种预想不到的、时而倒向政治派别的这一边，时而倒向那一边中度过的，并在这种摇摆的过程中，给中国造成了不可估量的损失。在一段时期里，毛泽东支持温和的讲究实际的派别；但时过不久，他又变得不耐烦了，联合起极左分子，发动另一场小规模的文化大革命。最后，他把自己也否定了。 在1976年的几个月内，这两位伟大的中国共产党领导人相继去世了。他们两人都没有实现自己的目标。但是，周恩来的政策在身后得到了继承，毛泽东的继承人却竞相抛弃毛泽东主义。 假如没有毛泽东，中国共产主义运动就会缺乏一种神秘感——它不仅吸引了那些征服中国的、狂热的支持者，也鼓舞了世界亿万人民。但是，毛泽东象大多数革命领导人一样，只善于破坏，不善于建设。 周恩来也能够进行破坏，但他很有才干。他不是光能管理废墟的人，而是能够进行建设，这在革命领导人中是罕见的。 他既能维护过去留下的最美好的东西，又能为未来建设一个新社会。 如果没有毛泽东，中国革命之火可能不会燃烧起来；如果没有周恩来，中国的革命则可能会被烧毁，只剩下一堆灰烬。 中国革命能否继续生存下去并搞得越来越好，而不是越来越糟，最终将取决于中共现行领导人的决策，看他们能否象周恩来那样，更多的是作为中国人行事，而不是作为共产党人行事。如果他们确实能够这样做，二十一世纪的中国，将无需担心北方的苏联、南方的印度、东北方的日本，甚至毋需担心东方的美国。拥有十亿世界上最有才干的人民和巨大的天然资源的中国，不仅将会成为世界上人口最多的国家，而且将会成为世界上最强大的国家。