Arriving in Tokyo

Abstract

As with many other aspiring Chinese students, Zhou Enlai went to study in Japan in September 1917, at the age of 19, leaving behind a homeland that was going through unprecedented turmoil. The newly established Republic of China (ROC) was entangled in a series of internal power struggles, while imperial powers were vying to carve up the country. There are few records of Zhou in the fall of 1917—Zhou did not write a diary in Japan until January 1918—and his whereabouts in Japan during this period are not established. Nevertheless, a new fact about Zhou’s life during this period emerged recently that had never been recorded in any literature on him so far. The current chapter examines this new discovery and reconstructs Zhou’s life in his initial period in Japan.