Zhou Enlai or Chou En-lai (1898. 3.5——1976. 1. 8) was born in 1898 in Hwaian，Kiangsu Province， in a middle-class family;Chou attended Chinese， Western missionaryand Japanese schools. In 1919 he was jailedbriefly for involvement in. studentdemonstrations. Upon his release， Chou wentto Paris for study. He soon became acommunist activist in the expatriate Chinesecommunist movement in Europe. In 1924， hereturned to China and became an organizer forthe party and its ally at the time， theKuomintang(KMT).