Zhou loses control to Mao....

Something happened to Zhou.  The Great Zhou En Lai. Administrator Supreme. Father of China's Intelligence service, along with the founder of a major Chinese newspaper.  Cold blooded killer.  Druglord.

How did someone so capable and invaluable to the Rise of China so willingly fall into line behind Mao?

Zhou EnLai continues to "flaunt" his ability after the end of the Long March.  He serves in Chongqing, as liaison between the CCP and KMT.  He was ripe for becoming a paid American spy(or someone's spy) but never bit.  Chiang Kai Shek could only dream of Zhou turning, like so many others before him.

Zhou's passion for the cause was unstoppable.  His reputation unscathed and beyond reproach.

The mantle of leadership within the Chinese Communist Party was his for the asking.  There is no way Mao could have become Supreme Leader of China if not for Zhou's acquiescence.   Zhou need simply raise his voice, flash his passion for the cause, and the chair would be his.

The leadership of China at that time was full of people that had known Zhou long before they had known Mao.  Lin Biao, Deng Xiaoping, Ye Jianying.

And yet Mao took control.

Mao had cred.  He did.  Passion.  Experience.  Hadn't he lost a wife to the KMT?  And a brother?

Still, to conclude one last time upon a point there is no need to further make, Zhou was debonair, and well-traveled.  He had spoken to the laowai on their terms, in their land.  He had seen Paris and London.  The Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.  Red Square!  The Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

How many people, let alone fellow Communist Comrades would have so willingly stepped aside?

I venture none.

And Mao?  If he wore Zhou's boots, would he have stepped aside?  Of course not!

The West no doubt preferred Zhou.   He was more handsome than Mao.  Fit the caricature we ourselves have of what a leader should look like.  Our mold.  Our stereotype.  Mao did not.   Did Mao deserve a leadership role after the Long March concluded?  Of course he did.

Zhou's top military adviser perhaps?

What base did Mao even have?  He had a wife that got pregnant along the retreat.  Indeed she suffered over 10 shrapnel fragments in her body during an attack.  Why does it seem it was always Mao's wives and their sacrifice making him so famous?  Why did they suffer more than he?

I want to examine how far Mao rose and how "far" Zhou dropped.  One man it seems didn't mind the shadows in lieu of the limelight.  And China paid the price.

I think the beginning of Zhou's "fall" at the expense of  Mao was when his role as CCP "representative" within the KMT held areas begin.  He was in effect the CCP "Ambassador".   As I alluded to earlier, he was a smashing success.  The CCP's chief "PR MAN" if you will.  Using his charm to not only mesmerize the local diplomatic corps but the KMT leadership as well.  Indeed, if Chiang Kai Shek had made one miscalculation more than others, it was that he refused to have Zhou Enlai killed.

CKS's relationship with Zhou perhaps simply went back too far.  And Zhou basically helped to spare CKS's life when he was taken hostage by Marshall Zhang in 1936.

Still, like with Zhou and Mao, the difference between Chiang Kai Shek and Zhou was great.  CKS's wife would have been much better suited to be Zhou's wife, Song Mei Ling.  Still, Song Mei Ling marrying that Great Incompetent CKS was like feeding Lobster and Caviar to a baby.   They were indeed as unsuitable for each other as an American Cadillac engine in a Pinto. 

The 1930's were a critical time for the CCP. Without the successful PR of Zhou Enlai, and his ability to mingle with both the Western and KMT leadership within China, the CCP would have remained a mystery.    An impenetrable political body impossible to study or learn from.  Much harder to understand its goals or mission within China.

Thanks to Song Mei Ling, EVERYONE knew about China, albeit from the KMT perspective.  The KMT was thus able to control the narrative for the longest time.  Without Zhou around, that narrative would have lasted even longer.

But while Zhou was away, surely he knew Mao would leverage this opportunity to solidify his power over the Chinese Communist Party, and at Zhou's expense.  And this is what exactly  happened.

Zhou En Lai's return to Yanan marked the end of his overall dominance of the Communist Party, and of most of his decision making influence.  But I don't think he cared. The record is clear;  Zhou went along with every single decision of Mao's;  from the destruction of Beijing's ancient city walls up to the Cultural Revolution.  There is simply no reliable record of his opposing Mao in any public way.

What of Mao's record during his control of the Jiangxi Soviet?  Whitewashed.

A decision that to this day still confuses me, is how Mao and Zhou and America could have held so many, many intimate discussions in both Yanan and Chongqing from the 30's through to the late 40's, to nearly 1947, and yet be at war only a few years later.  How does that happen? 

Meanwhile, as Zhou was away in Chongqing, so were the generals in the field.  Who was to oppose Mao?

My take is Zhou simply saw the writing on the wall.  And lacked the personality to fight back.  This also tells one something of Zhou En Lai's wife.  For if she felt her husband was being slighted, she without question would have egged Zhou on.  Indeed, Zhou's return to Yanan was nothing but a confirmation of Mao's coronation as Emperor, and Zhou's relegation to Joker Status.

Could Zhou have beaten the KMT if he were in charge?  I stated earlier, in the beginning of this series, that no he could not.  But now I wonder.  Chiang Kai Shek was that corrupt, his generals so out for themselves, that I think now the answer is Yes, Zhou could've have indeed defeated Chiang Kai Shek.  The KMT armies without a doubt simply felt their life in China would be better fighting for the CCP, than for CKS.