Happy Birthday

Leading today's headlines in Big Red, it's Zhou Enlai's 110th (pictured here with Tricky Dick). The CPC commemorated it with a lot of "tut-tut"-ing at what I'm sure was a lavish meal in the elegantly ordained ball room of the Great Hall of the People. (I just happened to snap a picture of said room last September, but can't seem to get it over the Great Firewall at the moment, so ask me again later).



Zhou was the #2 (the Premier) to Mao, and according to Chang and Halliday's account, was ruthlessly abused by Mao. Mao went so far as to deny Zhou treatment for his prostate cancer in Mao's efforts to maintain his grip on control in the waning years of the Cultural Revolution and his own life.