Hosei University President's Discussion] Learning from Past Culture and History to Build Constructive Relationship between Japan and China (Zhou Bingyi, Wang Min)

Implementing my beliefs in my life

Tanaka I have heard that your uncle, Zhou Enlai, once studied in Japan at a language school attached to Hosei University. We are very honored to hear this.

Zhou: I am very happy to hear you say so. Through Mr. Wang Min's research paper, I read about one aspect of the relationship between my uncle and Hosei University. In response to this, I thought it might be useful to provide some supplementary information, so I would like to give you an example from my own life from the perspective of my relatives.
The Zhou family has been involved in the education of royalty, nobility, and bureaucrats, including law, for generations. The main tasks of bureaucrats in ancient times were the collection of taxes and the maintenance of public order. Therefore, the law was deeply involved in the education of bureaucrats. Growing up in this environment, Zhou Enlai was familiar with the law from a young age, and even memorized the laws of the Qing Dynasty. His cousins called him a "mini-judge. When he studied in Japan, he probably visited Hosei University, which was also known for its law.
At the time when Zhou Enlai was studying in Japan, China was modeling itself after Japan, and I believe that he did his best to absorb what he could for the benefit of China. He was a person who could consciously accept what he learned and act on it. To give an example, when he was arrested in Beijing in 1919 for his role in the student movement, he was so knowledgeable that he mobilized all of his legal knowledge and proposed a trial to the prominent lawyer in charge of the case through letters. I believe that he was able to do this because of his study abroad experience in Japan.

Tanaka As his niece, did you have a close relationship with Mr. Zhou Enlai?

Zhou: Actually, we lived together for almost 20 years, starting when I was four and a half years old. Zhou Enlai was not blessed with children, and his brother, my father, had six children. I was the third child, and the three older children were welcomed by Zhou Enlai. My father, who was running a small business at the time, was offered the post of government secretary, but my uncle told him to turn it down. This was based on the idea that even Zhou Enlai's family should live the same life as the people.

Tanaka So you never acted in a way that benefited your relatives just because you had gained power?

Zhou That is correct. We did not share meals with my uncle at home. When we had to go home temporarily from the boarding school, other students were picked up by car, but my siblings and I were picked up by a staff member on a tricycle. My uncle had three cars, but he was never allowed to take his relatives. Also, when I was a sophomore in high school, my uncle was to give a speech at the graduation ceremony of the school I attended. When I asked his secretary if I would like to go and listen to his speech, my uncle refused. The reason was that he was not a graduate that year. He was a strict man and had a firm belief that we should live our lives with the awareness that we were ordinary people.

The school that Mr. Wang Chou went to was a school that had the character of a "privileged class," where children of high-ranking military officers attended. The school is one of the most prestigious schools in Beijing, named "81 School" after the military anniversary of August 1st. It is a boarding school, but students can return to their homes on Saturdays and Sundays. It was "customary" for the secretaries of high-ranking officials to pick up the children by car after school on Fridays.

Tanaka In this context, we do not use privileges. He was a man who lived by his beliefs, not just his words.

Zhou When I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, my aunt and uncle told me, "You are not the prime minister of the Zhou family. He is the prime minister of the nation. He is the prime minister who works for the people. At the time, I didn't really understand what they meant, but now that I am an adult, I do.

Tanaka This is a very moving episode.

Always oriented to create peaceful relationships.

Tanaka I understand that you came to Japan to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.

Zhou: My husband was the first correspondent in Japan for Xinhua, the state-run news agency. My sister's husband's grandfather also studied at Hosei University, and after returning to Japan, he became the President of the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China. My daughter also studied in Japan, but at the time I was working as an editor of an art magazine in Beijing, so I was living back and forth between Beijing and Tokyo. After my aunt and uncle passed away and I retired from my job as an art editor, I switched to researching Zhou Enlai. In recent years, I have been diligently visiting and interviewing Zhou Enlai's acquaintances, comrades, associates, and relatives to collect many valuable records.

Wang Zhou Bingyi's sister is Zhou Bingde. She was a member of the Chinese Political Consultative Committee, which is equivalent to a member of the Japanese Diet, and vice president of the state-run news agency, China News (Zhongxin). The grandfather of Ms. Zhou's husband was a jurist named Huangru Shen, who studied political science and law at Hosei University in the early 1900's. During his studies, he was a member of the Alliance led by Sun Yat-sen. During his studies, he joined the Alliance led by Sun Yat-sen and contributed to the Xinhai Revolution. He wrote the first code of the new China and served as president of the People's Court. He is one of the "Six Sovereigns" in China's modern history.

Tanaka As I thought, your family has a close relationship with Hosei University. I am very proud that the people who made Chinese history studied at Hosei University. What kind of contribution do you think Zhou Enlai's research will make to China today?

Zhou: Perhaps universally true, young people's views on life are changing. It may be difficult to provide a valuable reference for a society and people undergoing such changes, and it may be difficult to produce results that can be immediately verified. However, from the perspective of historical materials, I believe that they are of high value, and I would like to preserve them for future generations. The roots of Zhou Enlai's way of life are all connected to traditional Chinese culture and ooze out in his own daily life. On the other hand, the current spirituality of the younger generation in China is in a state of confusion, but I am sure that it will eventually settle down. I would like to wait for that.

Wang: Traditional Chinese culture is very broad in scope. It has been referred to by Japan since ancient times in some aspects and not in others, and there are areas where modern people have converted to their own values and others where they have shelved them. In this context, Zhou Enlai demanded the virtues of a simple attitude toward life and humble behavior, not only from himself but also from his relatives. I continue to teach this to students at Dalian University of Foreign Languages, my alma mater, which was established under Zhou Enlai's leadership.

Tanaka So the Chinese people have long passed down ideals about how people should live. It was also the basis for the Japanese in the Edo period. So, what do you think of Chinese society today in terms of Zhou Enlai's ideas about society?

Zhou Zhou Enlai wished to build peaceful domestic and international relations and formulated a policy called the "Five Principles of Peace. Although he made efforts to make China prosperous and strong, he did not consider a hegemonic way of being, or a non-peaceful "strong power" attitude in domestic and international relations.

Wang The "Five Principles of Peace" were advocated by Zhou Enlai in his speech at the Bandung Asian Conference in Indonesia in the 1950s, and are still being studied in China to this day.

Tanaka I think this is a very important message.

Zhou In addition to this, there are still words that my uncle made when he was 14 years old to express his aspirations, and many people still use them as their motto. I would like them to remember that my uncle always had a spirit of harmony and was oriented toward peaceful relations both at home and abroad.

Wang: Those words of former Prime Minister Chou En-lai were something like "Let us study for the rise of the Chinese nation," and he is still regarded as a role model for young people today. I am sure that Premier Zhou himself would have liked these words. It seems that he often used these words as a gift to the youth.

More international students who think and act actively on their own

Tanaka I feel that students from China have changed a lot in the past 10 years. In the past, most of them seemed to be the type of students who were given assignments to study, but in recent years, they have started to think of their own assignments and take action, becoming very proactive. I am very interested in this process of change.

Zhou: That is wonderful. I also feel that many young people born after the 1990s are very active.

Tanaka In the art world, which is your specialty, young artists are also very active.

Zhou I agree. This is a phenomenon that did not exist when I was young. At one time, as the art world became more active, there was a tendency to aim for economic profit, but I think that has calmed down in the last few years.

Tanaka In other fields of art as well, young Chinese artists are gaining worldwide recognition.

Zhou The new generation has their own views and standards. It is not always possible for us to understand them. The question is how we should evaluate the new. I think it is problematic to evaluate something just because it is newer than in the past. In terms of art, in terms of spirituality, perhaps the works of the past have more weight and deeper meaning.

Tanaka It is important to be interested in the past. I am an expert on the Edo period, and in recent years Chinese students have finally become interested in the Edo period. Although it is a past era, they are working on it with the desire to compare it with the same era in their own country. This seems like a significant change. In addition, more and more Chinese are traveling to places where traditional Japanese culture remains. I am very happy that more and more people are interested in various aspects of Japan other than economic development.

Zhou: Then we can be hopeful.

Tanaka That's right. Meeting with Mr. Zhou today, I was able to hear valuable stories about Mr. Zhou Enlai and his own experiences, who has made great efforts to promote exchanges between Japan and China, and I could feel great expectations for the development of a constructive relationship between Japan and China. Thank you very much.

Wang I had dinner with the Zhou family brothers a few years ago, and I will never forget what Mr. Zhou Bingde said to me. I will never forget Mr. Zhou Bingde's words as he raised a glass of 30-year-old Shaoxing wine. It is the Shaoxing wine of my uncle's hometown. Let's leave a bottle to Wang Min. For the next 30 years and the 30 years to come, and for the continuation of peaceful relations between China and Japan. These words are still loaded, but they are engraved in my heart. Thank you very much.

Zhou: Thank you very much.