Who they were
He joined the young communist movement during work-study years in France, headed the political department at the Whampoa Military Academy during the first united front, helped lead the Nanchang Uprising of 1927, and was a Long March veteran and a key negotiator in the Xi’an Incident (1936) and the wartime united front.
What they did
As premier and diplomat he represented the PRC at Geneva (1954) and Bandung (1955) and co-authored the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence; in 1972 he received Nixon on the breakthrough visit. Through the Cultural Revolution he kept the state apparatus functioning, protecting some officials and institutions — how far is debated by historians. Late in life he championed the “Four Modernizations”. His death in January 1976 sparked mass public mourning that April, the 1976 Tiananmen Incident.
Legacy
Widely regarded as the consummate administrator-diplomat, he is held in deep popular affection.