Zhou Enlai had his family roots in Shanyin, Shaoxing where the Zhous lived in “One-Hundred Years Hall” at the Baoyou Bridge. Zhou Enlai was born in Huai’an, Jiangsu Province.  

Zhou Enlai went to the northeast China in 1910 with an aunt. He went to Tieling primary school in Manzhou and then went to the Fengtian Second Public School in Shenyang. In 1913, he went to Nankai Middle School in Tianjin. Then he went to study in Japan and came back to China in 1919. After his return to China, he served as editor-in-chief for United Students News in Tianjin and initiated a student organization called Juewu Society and acted as editor-in-chief of the magazine published by the Society. In 1920, he went to France in a work-study program, where he joined a communist group in Paris in 1921. In 1922 he went to Germany and acted as the chief of CPC branch for Chinese communists in Europe. He came back to China in 1924 and acted as chief of the political section of Huangpu Military Academy. In the winter of 1926 he went to Shanghai and in March 1927 he successfully led the Shanghai workers in their third armed uprising. In May 1927 he was elected member of CPC politburo and secretary of the military commission of CPC. After the Communist Party broke away from the Kuomintang, he led the Nanchang Uprising in collaboration with He Long, Ye Ting and Zhu De. In 1928, Zhou Enlai was elected standing committee member of CPC politburo, chief of CPC organization ehe department, and secretary of the military committee of CPC. In December 1931 he entered the Central Revolutionary Base and acted as secretary of CPC Soviet central bureau, commissar of the red army, and deputy director of the military committee of CPC central committee. In 1932 he and Zhu De led the red army to defeat the fourth large-scale campaign started by the Kuomintang government to annihilate the communists in Jiangxi. In October 1934, he led the red army in its long march. At the Zunyi Meeting in January 1935, he supported Mao Zedong’s correct ideas and supported Mao to become the leader of CPC. After the Xi’an Incident, he as the plenipotentiary representative flew to negotiate for a peace treaty with Chiang Kai-shek (1887～1975), who was forced to accept the CPC’s proposal of “stopping the civil war and uniting to fight the Japanese invaders”. After the victory of the Anti-Japan War, Zhou accompanied Mao Zedong to  Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek (1887～1975) and signed the October 10 Treaty. Then he acted as CPC representative in the three-man military coordination team. After he returned to Yan’an in November 1946, he acted as deputy chairman of the military committee of CPC central committee and chief of the general staff and led the Liberation War. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he was premier for decades. He was respectively also foreign minister, vice chairman of first CPPCC national committee, chairman of the second and third CPPCC national committee, member of politburo standing committee for the eighth, ninth and tenth central committee of CPC national congresses, vice chairman of eighth central committee and the tenth central committee of the CPC, vice chairman of people’s military committee and vice chairman of military committee of the CPC central committee.  

Zhou Enlai was an important leader of the Party and state for over decades. He died of cancer on January 8, 1976.  

Zhou Enlai loved Shaoxing, his hometown. In 1939 he visited Shaoxing and paid respects to his ancestral tombs in the capacity of the vice director of political section of the national government’s military committee. During his visit, he publicized the policy of the united front against the Japanese Invaders and the thought of long-lasting war. He came into wide contacts with local celebrities and visited the elder members of his family in Shaoxing. Today, Zhou Enlai’s ancestral residence Longevity Hall at 19 Labor Road in Shaoxing has been restored and is an exhibition hall for Zhou’s historical deeds.