Editing Zhou Enlai (section)

===Education===
[[File:Zhou enlai student.jpg|thumb|right|Zhou Enlai as a student in [[Tianjin Nankai Middle School|Nankai Middle School]]]]
In Fengtian, Zhou attended the Dongguan Model Academy, a modern-style school. His previous education consisted entirely of homeschooling. In addition to new subjects such as English and science, Zhou was also exposed to the writings of reformers and radicals such as [[Liang Qichao]], [[Kang Youwei]], [[Chen Tianhua]], [[Zou Rong]], and [[Zhang Binglin]].<ref>Lee 25–26</ref><ref>Barnouin and Yu 13–14</ref> At the age of fourteen, Zhou declared that his motivation for pursuing education was to "become a great man who will take up the heavy responsibilities of the country in the future."<ref>Barnouin and Yu 14</ref> In 1913, Zhou's uncle was transferred to Tianjin, where Zhou entered the famous [[Tianjin Nankai High School|Nankai Middle School]].

Nankai Middle School was founded by [[Yan Xiu]], a prominent scholar and philanthropist, and headed by [[Zhang Boling]], one of the most important Chinese educators of the 20th century.<ref>Boorman "Chang Po-ling" (101) calls him "one of the founders of modern education in China".</ref> Nankai's teaching methods were unusual by contemporary Chinese standards. By the time Zhou began attending, it had adopted the educational model used at the [[Phillips Academy]] in the United States.<ref>Lee 39, 46</ref> The school's reputation, with its "highly disciplined" daily routine and "strict moral code",<ref>Lee 43</ref> attracted many students who later became prominent in public life. Zhou's friends and classmates there ranged from [[Ma Jun (20th century Chinese communist leader)|Ma Jun]] (an early communist leader executed in 1927) to [[Wu Guozhen|K. C. Wu]] (later mayor of Shanghai and governor of Taiwan under the Nationalist party).<ref>Lee 55 and 44</ref> Zhou's talents also attracted the attention of Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling. Yan in particular thought highly of Zhou, helping to pay for his studies in Japan and later France.<ref>Lee 77 and 152</ref>

Yan was so impressed with Zhou that he encouraged Zhou to marry his daughter, but Zhou declined. Zhou later expressed the reasons for his decision not to marry Yan's daughter to his classmate, [[Zhang Honghao]]. Zhou said that he declined the marriage because he feared that his financial prospects would not be promising, and that Yan would, as his father-in-law, later dominate his life.<ref>Barnouin and Yu 16</ref>

Zhou did well in his studies at Nankai; he excelled in Chinese, won several awards in the school speech club, and became editor of the school newspaper in his final year. Zhou was also very active in acting and producing dramas and plays at Nankai; many students who were not otherwise acquainted with him knew of him through his acting.<ref>Lee 64–66</ref> Nankai preserves a number of essays and articles written by Zhou at this time, and these reflect the discipline, training, and concern for country that Nankai's founders attempted to instill in their students. At the school's tenth commencement in June 1917, Zhou was one of five graduating students honored at the ceremony, and one of the two valedictorians.<ref>Lee 74</ref>

By the time that he graduated from Nankai, Zhang Boling's teachings of ''gong'' (public spirit) and ''neng'' (ability) had made a great impression on him. His participation in debates and stage performances contributed to his eloquence and skills of persuasion. Zhou left Nankai with a great desire to pursue public service, and to acquire the skills required to do so.<ref>Barnouin and Yu 18</ref>

Following many of his classmates, Zhou went to Japan in July 1917 for further studies. During his two years in Japan, Zhou spent most of his time in the East Asian Higher Preparatory School, a language school for Chinese students. Zhou's studies were supported by his uncles, and apparently Nankai founder Yan Xiu as well, but their funds were limited; during this period, Japan suffered from severe inflation.<ref>Lee 86 103</ref> Zhou originally planned to win one of the scholarships offered by the Chinese government; these scholarships, however, required Chinese students to pass entrance examinations in Japanese universities. Zhou took entrance examinations for at least two schools but failed to gain admission.<ref>Lee 89</ref> Zhou's reported anxieties were compounded by the death of his uncle, [[Zhou Yikui]], his inability to master Japanese, and the acute Japanese cultural chauvinism that discriminated against Chinese. By the time that Zhou returned to China in the spring of 1919, he had become deeply disenchanted with Japanese culture, rejecting the idea that the Japanese political model was relevant to China and disdaining the values of elitism and militarism that he observed.<ref>Barnouin and Yu 29–30</ref>

Zhou's diaries and letters from his time in Tokyo show a deep interest in politics and current events, in particular, the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolsheviks' new policies. He began to read avidly [[Chen Duxiu]]'s progressive and left-leaning magazine, ''New Youth''.<ref>Barnouin and Yu 21</ref> He read early Japanese works on Marx, and it has been claimed that he even attended [[Kawakami Hajime]]'s lectures at Kyoto University. Kawakami was an important figure in the early history of Japanese Marxism, and his translations and articles influenced a generation of Chinese communists.<ref>Boorman (332) makes the claim that Zhou attended Kawakami's lectures</ref> However, it now seems unlikely that Zhou met him or heard any of his lectures.<ref>Lee 104</ref> Zhou's diaries also show his interest in Chinese student protests in opposition to the [[Sino-Japanese Joint Defense Agreement]] in May 1918, but he did not actively participate in them or return to China as part of the "Returning Home Movement".<ref>Itoh 113–114</ref> His active role in political movements began after his return to China.