--- title: Zhou Enlai url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/zhou-enlai/ description: 5 verified quotes from Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Council, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a Second World War naval-intelligence collage of a Pacific theatre map, aerial reconnaissance photographs and radar plots.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwii-pacific.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · China # Zhou Enlai ![Zhou Enlai in the Great Hall of the People, 21 February 1972](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/peoples-republic-of-china-mao/zhou-enlai.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Richard_Nixon_Seated_with_Premier_Chou_En-Lai,_William_Rogers,_and_Others_Inside_the_Great_Hall_of_the_People_-_DPLA_-_e11f0938aeb976095187623ccc74db6e.tiff): White House Photo Office (President Nixon), U.S. National Archives (via Digital Public Library of America), Public domain (U.S. federal government work) Premier of the State Council · China On the regime page: [People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/peoples-republic-of-china-mao/#zhou-enlai) 5 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=zhou-enlai). 1. > “In order to expose Chiang Kai-shek's scheme, we should concentrate on propagating the four slogans against civil war, against dictatorship, for peace and for democracy.” — English: Foreign Languages Press, Beijing (Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, vol. 1, 1981; first English publication 1981). Original-language text not found. — August 16, 1945 · Statement — Inner-Party instruction on propaganda, written two days after Japan's surrender announcement, as the Party responded to Chiang Kai-shek's moves towards civil war. — Actively Propagate Opposition to Civil War and Dictatorship and Expose Chiang Kai-shek's Deceitful Plot, 16 August 1945, in Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, vol. 1 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1981) [Source](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/zhou-enlai/1945/08/16.htm) 2. **Content note:** Threat of violence against opponents of Chinese representation at the UN. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “The Chinese people enthusiastically love peace, but in order to defend peace they never have been and never will be afraid to oppose aggressive war. The Chinese people absolutely will not tolerate foreign aggression, nor will they supinely tolerate seeing their neighbours being savagely invaded by imperialists. Whoever attempt to exclude the nearly 500 million Chinese people from the U.N. and whoever set at nought and violate the interests of this one-fourth of mankind in the world and fancy vainly to solve any Eastern problem directly concerned with China arbitrarily, will certainly break their skulls.” — English: English as printed in World News and Views (London), 14 October 1950. Original-language text not found. — October 1950 · Statement — Extract from a report on the first year of the People's Republic, covering the liberation war and foreign policy, made while the Korean War was under way. The source page gives only 'October 1950'; the text was printed in World News and Views on 14 October 1950. — Extracts from a report to the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference on the liberation war and foreign policy, World News and Views, vol. 30, no. 41 (14 October 1950) [Source](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/zhou-enlai/1950/10/x01.htm) 3. > “We Communists do not hide the fact that we believe in communism and that we consider the socialist system a good system. There is no need at this Conference to publicize one’s ideology and the political system of one’s country, although differences do exist among us.” — English: Interpreter's English rendering spoken at the Conference, as recorded by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Original-language text not found. — April 19, 1955 · Speech · Bandung, Indonesia — Zhou distributed his main speech in writing and delivered a shorter supplementary speech to the plenary session, in response to delegates' criticism of communism. — Supplementary speech at the plenary session of the Asian-African Conference, Bandung, 19 April 1955 (English rendering as spoken at the conference, text from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) [Source](https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/docs/19550419.S2E.html) 4. > “Our great proletarian cultural revolution is acclaimed and warmly praised by all Marxists-Leninists and revolutionary people of the world and immensely fortifies their revolutionary fighting will and confidence in victory.” — English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967. Original-language text not found. — September 30, 1966 · Speech · Peking — Speech to foreign guests and officials at the reception for the 17th anniversary of the People's Republic, in the first months of the Cultural Revolution. — Speech at the National Day Reception, 30 September 1966, in Forward Along the High Road of Mao Tse-tung's Thought (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1967) [Source](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/zhou-enlai/1966/09/30.htm) 5. > “On Chairman Mao's instructions, it was suggested in the report on the work of the government to the Third National People's Congress that we might envisage the development of our national economy in two stages beginning from the Third Five-Year Plan: The first stage is to build an independent and relatively comprehensive industrial and economic system in 15 years, that is, before 1980; the second stage is to accomplish the comprehensive modernization of agriculture, industry, national defence and science and technology before the end of the century, so that our national economy will be advancing in the front ranks of the world.” — English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975. Original-language text not found. — January 13, 1975 · Speech · Peking — Government work report delivered by Zhou, restating the two-stage plan for 'comprehensive modernization' first put forward in 1964. — Report on the Work of the Government, 13 January 1975, to the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress, in Documents of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1975) [Source](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/zhou-enlai/1975/01/13.htm) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Zhou Enlai’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Zhou Enlai’s words. - > “It's too early to say.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Zhou Enlai, asked by Nixon or Kissinger in 1971-72 what he thought of the effects of the French Revolution. — Not found in the memoranda of conversation of Nixon's February 1972 visit (FRUS 1969-1976, vol. XVII, docs. 193-200), which were searched for 'French Revolution' and 'too early'. The exchange is reported in later secondary accounts and is not backed by a primary text read here.