Mao (or Chou) and the French Revolution
Phil Edwards
>the probable answer comes best
>from Chou En-lai's observation on consequences of the French Revolution
>of 1789, "It's too soon to say."
A quick Google on "French Revolution" "too soon" turns up scads of
references to this famous and highly quotable remark, attributed
variously to Chou and Mao; some of them even pinyinise the names to
Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong. However, I can't find any reference to when
the remark was actually supposed to be made. I Read Somewhere that the
entire story's based on a misunderstanding; that Zhou (or, more
probably, a more junior and less memorable Chinese politico) was asked
this question in or around 1968, when France was in a pretty much
pre-revolutionary state, and assumed that he was being asked about a
contemporary revolution. On which, of course, he didn't yet know the
party line - hence the sagacious diplomatic stonewall.
However, I can't find any evidence for this either, and am beginning
to suspect I've made the whole thing up. I hate it when that happens.
Phil "remembering interesting times" Edwards
--
Phil Edwards http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth/
"It's really sad that some folks think their opinion matters."
- K.D.
Donna Richoux
> Seen recently on another group:
>
> >the probable answer comes best
> >from Chou En-lai's observation on consequences of the French Revolution
> >of 1789, "It's too soon to say."
>
> A quick Google on "French Revolution" "too soon" turns up scads of
> references to this famous and highly quotable remark, attributed
> variously to Chou and Mao; some of them even pinyinise the names to
> Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong. However, I can't find any reference to when
> the remark was actually supposed to be made.
I find several that say 1972, in Beijing, to Henry Kissinger. For
example,
http://www.usaid.gov/press/spe_test/speeches/1999/sp991208.html
Donna "good jokes are often bogus, of course" Richoux
Phil Edwards
<1f6bqbr.11tjwm4175sq31N%tr...@euronet.nl>, tr...@euronet.nl (Donna
Richoux) wrote:
>Phil Edwards <amr...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> A quick Google on "French Revolution" "too soon" turns up scads of
>> references to this famous and highly quotable remark, attributed
>> variously to Chou and Mao; some of them even pinyinise the names to
>> Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong. However, I can't find any reference to when
>> the remark was actually supposed to be made.
>
>I find several that say 1972, in Beijing, to Henry Kissinger. For
>example,
>
>http://www.usaid.gov/press/spe_test/speeches/1999/sp991208.html
My laboriously retyped Googling results got lost in my last crash but
two; the gist was that the setting of a conversation with Kissinger
(or Nixon) is widely agreed on, and that there are about twice as many
pages out there ascribing the quote to Chou (or Zhou) as to Mao. It's
also been ascribed to Deng Xiaoping and Ho Chi Minh (!).
Interestingly, an investigative journalist with the unfortunate name
of Gary Sick ascribes the whole shebang to Andre Malraux. Malraux
wrote at some length about his experiences in China in the 1920s,
witnessing the Kuomintang revolution at first hand; many years later,
he was appointed Culture Minister in de Gaulle's 1958 government.
Malraux's memoirs included a lengthy conversation with Mao, whom he'd
supposedly met in Beijing in 1965. What makes this particularly
interesting is that Malraux was one of the authorities whom Nixon
consulted personally when he was planning his trip to China;
supposedly Malraux drew on forty-year-old reminiscences of the young
Communists(-to-be?) who would end up ruling the People's Republic.
However, Malraux didn't actually travel with the KMT - he was in what
was then French Indochina in the 1920s, but never entered China. His
memoirs have been described, tactfully, as a challenge to conventional
concepts of autobiography; his conversation with Mao is thought to
have grown rather extensively in the telling. And it does include
references to the French Revolution, but not the one we're after.
So the Malraux trail seems to have gone cold - shame. It does look as
if we're looking at either a genuinely memorable remark or a memorable
fabrication; my original 'genuine but mundane' explanation is starting
to look like a post facto rationalisation.
Phil "anyone in the john, Milton?" Edwards