1.
Zhejiang
–
Zhejiang, formerly romanized as Chekiang, is an eastern coastal province of China. The provinces name derives from the Zhe River, the name of the Qiantang River which flows past Hangzhou. Kuahuqiao culture was a neolithic culture that flourished in Hangzhou area in 6. Zhejiang was the site of the Neolithic cultures of the Hemudu, the area of modern Zhejiang was outside the major sphere of influence of the Shang civilization during the second millennium BC. Instead, this area was populated by peoples known as Dongyue. The kingdom of Yue began to appear in the chronicles and records written during the Spring, according to the chronicles, the kingdom of Yue was in northern Zhejiang. Shiji claims that its leaders were descended from the Shang founder Yu the Great, the Song of the Yue Boatman was transliterated into Chinese and recorded by authors in north China or inland China of Hebei and Henan around 528 BC. The song shows that the Yue people spoke a language that was mutually unintelligible with the dialects spoken in north, the Sword of Goujian bears bird-worm seal script. Yuenü was a swordswoman from the state of Yue, to check the growth of the kingdom of Wu, Chu pursued a policy of strengthening Yue. Under King Goujian, Yue recovered from its early reverses and fully annexed the lands of its rival in 473 BC, the Yue kings then moved their capital center from their original home around Mount Kuaiji in present-day Shaoxing to the former Wu capital at present-day Suzhou. With no southern power to turn against Yue, Chu opposed it directly and, in 333 BC, yues former lands were annexed by the Qin Empire in 222 BC and organized into a commandery named for Kuaiji in Zhejiang but initially headquartered in Wu in Jiangsu. Kuaiji Commandery was the power base for Xiang Liang and Xiang Yus rebellion against the Qin Empire which initially succeeded in restoring the kingdom of Chu. At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era, Zhejiang was home to the warlords Yan Baihu and Wang Lang prior to their defeat by Sun Ce and Sun Quan, who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu. Despite the removal of their court from Kuaiji to Jianye, they continued development of the region, industrial kilns were established and trade reached as far as Manchuria and Funan. Zhejiang was part of the Wu during the Three Kingdoms, Wu, commonly known as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, had been the economically most developed state among the Three Kingdoms. The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms records that Zhejiang had the best-equipped, the story depicts how the states of Wei and Shu, lack of material resources, avoided direct confrontation with the Wu. In armed military conflicts with Wu, the two states relied intensively on tactics of camouflage and deception to steal Wus military resources including arrows and bows, the other two centers in the south were Jiankang and Chengdu. In 589, Qiantang was raised in status and renamed Hangzhou, some may have lost social privilege, and took refugee in areas south to Yangtze River
2.
Xi Jinping
–
Xi Jinping is the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the Peoples Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As General Secretary, Xi holds a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee. The son of Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping rose through the ranks politically in Chinas coastal provinces, Xi was governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, and governor, then party secretary of neighboring Zhejiang province from 2002 to 2007. Following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to Shanghai as party secretary for a period in 2007. Xi joined the Politburo Standing Committee and central secretariat in October 2007, Xi was vice-president from 2008 to 2013 and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 2010 to 2012. Since assuming power, Xi has attempted to legitimize the authority of the Communist Party by introducing far-ranging measures to enforce party discipline and he initiated an unprecedented and far-reaching campaign against corruption, leading to the downfall of prominent incumbent and retired officials. Xi has also imposed further restrictions over civil society and ideological discourse, Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953. After the founding of the Communist state in 1949, Xis father held a series of posts, including propaganda chief, vice-premier, Xis father is from Fuping County, Shaanxi, and Xi could further trace his patrilineal descent from Xiying in Dengzhou, Henan. He is the son of Xi Zhongxun and his wife Qi Xin. When Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xis secondary education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, Xi was age 15 when his father was jailed in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. Without the protection of his father, Xi was sent to work in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi and he later became the Party branch secretary of the production team, leaving that post in 1975. When asked about this experience later by Chinese state television, Xi recalled, and when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion. From 1979 to 1982, Xi served as secretary for his fathers former subordinate Geng Biao and this gained Xi some military background. In 1985, as part of a Chinese delegation to study American agriculture, he visited the town of Muscatine and this trip, and his stay with an American family, has been considered influential in his views on the United States. Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party of China in 1974, in 1982, he was sent to Zhengding County in Hebei as deputy Party Secretary of Zhengding County. He was promoted in 1983 to Secretary, becoming the top official of the county, Xi subsequently served in four provinces during his regional political career, Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. Xi held posts in the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and became the president of the Party School in Fuzhou in 1990, in 1997, Xi was named an alternate member of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
3.
Tianjin
–
Tianjin, formerly known in English as Tientsin, is a metropolis in northern coastal Mainland China and one of the five national central cities of the country, with a total population of 15,469,500. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government, Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China, in terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404, as a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government, under the Ta-tsing Empire, and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in the region. At that time, numerous European-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered from 1990s. As of the end of 2010, around 285 Fortune 500 companies have set up base in Binhai, Tianjin is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese characters 天津, which mean Heavenly Ford or Ford of Heaven. The origin of the name is obscure, one folk etymology is that it was an homage to the patriotic Chu poet Qu Yuan, whose Li Sao includes the verse. departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn. Another is that it honors a former name of the Girl, a third is that it derives from a place name noted in the River Record of the History of Jin. The most common are that it was bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, before this time, it was open sea. The opening of the Grand Canal during the Sui dynasty prompted the development of Tianjin into a trading center, during the Qing dynasty Tianjin was promoted to a prefecture or Zhou in 1725 with Tianjin County established under the prefecture in 1731. Later it was to upgraded to a prefecture or Fu before becoming a relay station under the command of the Viceroy of Zhili. In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and they captured 12 men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the Second Opium War in June of the year, the British and French prevailed, and the Treaties of Tianjin were signed. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France and these nations left many architectural reminders of their rule, notably churches and thousands of villas. Today those villas provide a flavour to Tianjin
4.
Communist Party of China
–
The Communist Party of China is the founding and ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. It was founded in 1921, chiefly by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the CPC is currently the worlds second largest political party with a membership of 88.76 million as of 2016. It also controls the worlds largest armed force, the Peoples Liberation Army, the highest body of the CPC is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. The partys leader holds the offices of General Secretary, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, through these posts the party leader is the countrys paramount leader. The current party leader is Xi Jinping, elected at the 18th National Congress, the CPC is still committed to communist thought and continues to participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties each year. The official explanation for Chinas economic reforms is that the country is in the stage of socialism. The planned economy established under Mao Zedong was replaced by the socialist market economy, the CPC has its origins in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, during which radical ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the Communist Party of China, Li Dazhao was the first leading Chinese intellectual who publicly supported Leninism and world revolution. In contrast to Chen Duxiu, Li did not renounce participation in the affairs of the Republic of China, both of them regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere. The CPC was modeled on Vladimir Lenins theory of a vanguard party, Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, the rudiments. Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, the founding National Congress of the CPC was held on 23–31 July 1921. With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, the CPC organization, while it was originally planned to be held in Shanghai French Concession, police officers interrupted the meeting on 3 July. Because of that, the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, only 12 delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend. Chen sent a representative to attend the congress. The resolutions of the called for the establishment of a communist party. The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT, a party organized on Leninist lines, when KMT leader Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists. Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiangs arrival, he turned on them, Chiangs army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by CPC General Ye Ting and his troops
5.
Peking University
–
Peking University, is a major Chinese research university located in Beijing and a member of the C9 League. It is the first modern national university established in China, founded as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the ancient Taixue or Guozijian and it also served as the highest administration for education in China at the beginning of its founding. By 1920, it had become a center for progressive thought, Peking University is consistently ranked as the top higher learning institution in mainland China. In addition to academics, Peking University is especially renowned for its campus grounds, and the beauty of its traditional Chinese architecture. Throughout its history, the university has educated and hosted many prominent modern Chinese thinkers, including such as, Mao Zedong, Lu Xun, Gu Hongming, Mao Dun, Li Dazhao. Peking University was influential in the birth of Chinas New Culture Movement, May Fourth Movement, when it was established on July 3,1898, the school was known as the Imperial University of Peking. It was established to replace Taixue or Guozijian, or Imperial Academy, in 1912, following the Xinhai Revolution, the Imperial University was renamed National Peking University. Cai, inspired by the German model of freedom, recruited an intellectually diverse faculty that included Hu Shih, Chen Duxiu. In 1919, students of Peking University formed the bulk of the protesters of the May Fourth Movement, efforts by the Beiyang government to end the protests by sealing off the Peking University campus led to Cais resignation. In 1920, Peking University became the first Chinese university to accept female students, after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Peking University moved to Changsha and formed the Changsha Temporary University along with Tsinghua University and Nankai University. In 1938, the three schools moved again, this time to Kunming, and formed the National Southwestern Associated University, in 1946, after World War II, Peking University moved back to Beijing. At that time, the university comprised six schools, and an institute for humanities. The total student enrollment grew up to 3,000, in 1949, after the Peoples Republic of China was established, Peking University lost its national appellation to reflect the fact that all universities under the new socialist state would be public. In 1952, Mao Zedongs government re-grouped the countrys higher education institutions with individual institutions tending to specialize in a field of study. As a result, some arts and science faculties of Tsinghua University, at the same time, however, the university lost its Law, Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture schools. These schools and faculties were merged into other universities or to found new colleges. During the re-grouping, Yenching University was closed up, Peking University moved from downtown Beijing to the former Yenching campus. The first disturbances of the Cultural Revolution began at Peking University in 1966, in 2000, Beijing Medical University was merged back into Peking University and became the Peking University Health Science Campus
6.
Wenzhou
–
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the Peoples Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the south east of Zhejiang Province with its borders connecting to Lishui on the west, Taizhou on the north. It is surrounded by mountains, the East China Sea, and 436 islands, while its lowlands are almost entirely along its East China Sea coast, most of Wenzhous area is mountainous as almost 76 percent of its 11, 784-square-kilometre surface area is classified as mountains and hills. It is said that Wenzhou has 7/10 mountains, 1/10 water, Wenzhou, which translates to a mild and pleasant land, derives its name from its climate, as it is neither extremely hot in summer nor extremely cold in the winter. Originally known as Yongjia, Yung-chia or Yungkia, Wenzhou was a prosperous treaty port. Wenzhou people make up a number of ethnic Chinese residents of Italy, France. Wenzhou has a history which goes back to about 2500 BC, when it became known for its production as one of the cities of origin of celadon in ancient China. Around 760AD in Tang Dynasty, the founding emperor Emperor Gaozu of Tang named Yongkia by its current name Wenzhou because of its mild weather, throughout its history, Wenzhous traditional economic role has been as a port giving access to the mountainous interior of southern Zhejiang Province. In early European sources, the name Wenzhou-Fu or -Foo was often transcribed Ouen-tcheou-fou after the accounts of French-speaking missionaries, in 1876, Wenzhou was opened for tea exports, but no foreign settlement was ever established there. Between 1937 and 1942, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wenzhou achieved importance as one of the few ports still under Chinese control and it declined in the later years of the war, but began to recover after coastal trade along the Zhejiang coast was re-established in 1955. When Guo Pu climbed to the top of West Guo Mountain in Wenzhou, he saw the range of mountains of Wenzhou together shaped as dipper and the city itself aside from mountains shaped as key. Therefore, Wenzhou is now nicknamed as the dipper city based on the popular geographical saying of the city mountains as dipper. Legends have it that during the time when Wenzhou was being established and developed, today, the Deer City District is the name of downtown Wenzhou and White Deer theater located at downtown is the most popular theater among the locals. Wenzhou is the city in China designed by the founder of Fengshui philosophical system Guo Pu. Nowadays, the local Wenzhounese people usually see Guo Pu as the architect, in 2003, the local Wenzhou government built and put up a statue of Guo Pu in downtown Wenzhou. Being the only city in China and the world designed by the pioneer of Fengshui, Wenzhou is usually considered as the city in China with the best Feng Shui condition. Other cities in China that are considered to possess excellent Fengshui nature are Beijing, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Kunming, Hengyang. However, none of these cities is designed entirely on the basis of philosophy of Fengshui or designed by the father of Fengshui Guo Pu, moreover, Wenzhou has an enormous cultural impact and influence on the history of China
7.
Zhou Enlai
–
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the Peoples Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Mao Zedong and was instrumental in the Communist Partys rise to power, and later in consolidating its control, forming foreign policy, a skilled and able diplomat, Zhou served as the Chinese foreign minister from 1949 to 1958. He helped devise policies regarding the disputes with the U. S. Taiwan. Zhou survived the purges of other top officials during the Cultural Revolution, while Mao dedicated most of his later years to political struggle and ideological work, Zhou was the main driving force behind the affairs of state during much of the Cultural Revolution. His attempts at mitigating the Red Guards damage and his efforts to protect others from their wrath made him popular in the Cultural Revolutions later stages. As Mao Zedongs health began to decline in 1971 and 1972, Zhous health was also failing, however, and he died eight months before Mao on 8 January 1976. The massive public outpouring of grief in Beijing turned to anger towards the Gang of Four, although succeeded by Hua Guofeng, it was Deng Xiaoping, Zhous ally, who was able to outmaneuver the Gang of Four politically and eventually take Maos place as paramount leader by 1978. Zhou Enlai was born in Huaian, Jiangsu province on 5 March 1898, the Zhou family was originally from Shaoxing in Zhejiang province. During the late Qing dynasty, Shaoxing was famous as the home of such as Zhous. To move up the ladder in civil service, the men in these often had to be transferred. Even after the move, however, the continued to view Shaoxing as its ancestral home. Zhous grandfather, Zhou Panlong, and his granduncle, Zhou Junang, were the first members of the family to move to Huaian, Panlong apparently passed the provincial examinations, and Zhou Enlai later claimed that Panlong served as magistrate governing Huaian county. Zhous father, Zhou Yineng, was the second of Zhou Panlongs four sons, Zhous birth mother, surnamed Wan, was the daughter of a prominent Jiangsu official. Like many others, the fortunes of Zhous large family of scholar-officials were decimated by a great economic recession that China suffered in the late 19th century. Zhou Yineng had a reputation for honesty, gentleness, intelligence and concern for others and he was unsuccessful in his personal life, and drifted across China doing various occupations, working in Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Shenyang, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan. Zhou Enlai later remembered his father as being away from home. Soon after birth, Zhou Enlai was adopted by his fathers youngest brother, Zhou Yigan, apparently the adoption was arranged because the family feared Yigan would die without an heir. Zhou Yigan died soon after the adoption, and Zhou Enlai was raised by Yigans widow, madame Chen was also from a scholarly family and received a traditional literary education
8.
Soong Ching-ling
–
Soong Ching-ling was the second wife of Sun Yat-sen, one of the leaders of the 1911 revolution that established the Republic of China, and was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. She was a member of the Soong family and, together with her siblings and she has become known as the mother of modern China. During the Cultural Revolution, however, she was heavily criticized, Soong survived the Cultural Revolution, but appeared less frequently after 1976. As the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress from 1976 to 1978, during her final illness in May 1981, she was given the special title of Honorary President of the Peoples Republic of China. Soong Ching-ling was born to businessman and missionary Charlie Soong in Chuansha, Pudong, Shanghai and she graduated from McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai, and Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States. Like her sisters, she spoke fluent English due to being educated in English for most of her life, Soong married Sun Yat-sen, leader of Chinas 1911 revolution and founder of the Kuomintang, on 25 October 1915, even though her parents greatly opposed the match. After Suns death in 1925, she was elected to the KMT Central Executive Committee, however, she left China for Moscow after the expulsion of the Communists from the KMT in 1927, accusing the KMT of betraying her husbands legacy. Her younger sister, May-ling, married Chiang Kai-shek shortly afterward and she resided afterwards in Shanghai until July 1937, when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. Following the outbreak of hostilities, she moved first to Hong Kong, then to Chongqing, in 1939, she founded the China Defense League, which raised funds and sought supplies primarily for the Chinese Communist controlled areas of northern China. In 1946, the League was renamed the China Welfare fund, continuing to seek funds, during the Chinese Civil War, Soong permanently broke with her family and supported the Communists. In 1948, she became chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang. On 1 October, she was a guest at the ceremony in Tiananmen Square marking the birth of the new Peoples Republic of China, the Nationalist government issued an order for her arrest, but this was soon mooted by the swift military victory of the Communists. The KMT fled from mainland China to Taiwan soon after this, Soong was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists, who reckoned her as a link between their movement and Suns earlier movement. In April 1951, it was announced that she had awarded the Stalin Peace Prize for 1950. In 1950, Soong became chairman of the Chinese Peoples Relief Administration and her China Welfare Fund was reorganized as the China Welfare Institute and began publishing the magazine China Reconstructs, now published as China Today. In 1953, a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published, in 1953 Soong served on the committees preparing for elections to the new National Peoples Congress and the drafting of the 1954 constitution. Soong was elected a Shanghai deputy to the first NPC, which adopted the constitution at its first meeting in September 1954 and she was elected one of 14 vice-chairmen of the NPCs standing committee, chaired by Liu Shaoqi. In December of the year, she was elected a vice-chairman of the CPPCC, which became a consultative body
9.
Tan Kah Kee
–
Tan was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province in 1874 during the Qing dynasty of China. In 1890, at the age of 16, he travelled to Singapore to help his father and his business was at its prime from 1912–14, when he was known as the Henry Ford of the Malayan community. Tan had a role among the 110 founders of Tao Nan School in Singapore. In 1919, he set up The Chinese High School in Singapore, earlier, in 1918, he established the Jimei Schools in Xiamen. In 1921, he set up Xiamen University and financially supported it until the Nationalist government of the Republic of China took over in 1937. In 1920, Tan arranged a marriage between his daughter, Tan Ai Leh, and Lee Kong Chian, his protégé who later became a well-known businessman. Tan was one of the prominent overseas Chinese to provide support to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He organised many relief funds under his name, one of which managed to raise ten million Straits dollars in 1937. He was also a participant in the Legislative Yuan of the Nationalist government in Chongqing, Tan survived because he escaped from Singapore before it fell to the Japanese, and went into hiding in Java, Indonesia. He strongly rejected proposals to attempt to negotiate with the Japanese and he also attempted to dissuade Wang Jingwei from such activities. He exercised considerable effort against the governor of Fujian Province, Chen Yi, Tan was the de facto leader of the Chinese community in Singapore, serving as chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and helping to organise the Hokkien clan association. However, he lost this role when the Chinese Civil War divided Singapores Chinese community into Communist, Tan was a Communist supporter because he was disillusioned with the corruption within the Kuomintang. He then moved permanently to China and served in positions in the Chinese Communist Party. Tan died in 1961 in Beijing and was given a funeral by the Chinese government. In Singapore, the Tan Kah Kee Scholarship Fund, which became known as the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, was established in memory of this philanthropy. Tan Kah Kee had four wives and seventeen children and his wives were Teo Po Ke, Goh Shiok Neo, Yap Kheok Neo, and a Straits woman whose full name is unknown. For example, Tan Ai Leh, his eldest daughter, was married to Lee Kong Chian, Tan Lay Ho was married to Lim Chong Kuo, the asteroid 2963 Chen Jiageng is named after him. Tan Kah Kee MRT Station, a station in Singapore named after Tan Kah Kee Lee Kong Chian, Tan Kah Kees son-in-law
10.
Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama
–
Lobsang Trinley Lhündrub Chökyi Gyaltsen was the tenth Panchen Lama of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. He was often referred to simply as Choekyi Gyaltsen, although this is also the name of other notable figures in Tibetan history. The 10th Panchen Lama was born Gonpo Tseten on 19 February 1938 in todays Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of Qinghai, to Gonpo Tseten, the Republic of China government, then embroiled in the Chinese Civil War, declared its support for Tseten on 3 June 1949. The Dalai Lamas government in Lhasa still refused to recognize Gyaltsen, the Kuomintang wanted to use Gyaltsen to create a broad anti-Communist base in Southwest China. The Kuomintang formulated a plan where 3 Khampa divisions would be assisted by the Panchen Lama to oppose the Communists, when Lhasa denied Gyaltsen the territory the Panchen Lama traditionally controlled, he asked Ma Bufang to help him lead an army against Tibet in September 1949. The Panchen Lama, unlike the Dalai Lama, sought to control in decision making. In addition, the Dalai Lama regime was tottering, and his government displayed negligence in affairs, the Panchen Lama supported Chinas claim of sovereignty over Tibet, and Chinas reform policies for Tibet. Radio Beijing broadcast the religious leaders call for Tibet to be liberated into Tibet, in 1951, the Panchen Lama was invited to Beijing as the Tibetan delegation was signing the 17-Point Agreement and telegramming the Dalai Lama to implement the Agreement. He was recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama when they met in 1952, in September 1954, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama went to Beijing to attend the first session of the first National Peoples Congress, meeting Mao Zedong and other leaders. In 1956, the Panchen Lama went to India on a pilgrimage together with the Dalai Lama. After a tour through Tibet in 1962, the Panchen Lama wrote a document addressed to Prime Minister Zhou Enlai denouncing the abusive policies and this became known as the 70,000 Character Petition. According to Isabel Hilton, it remains the most detailed and informed attack on Chinas policies in Tibet that would ever be written, the Panchen Lama met with Zhou Enlai to discuss the petition he had written. The initial reaction was positive, but in October 1962, the PRC authorities dealing with the population criticized the petition, a poisoned arrow shot at the Party by reactionary feudal overlords. For decades, the content of this report remained hidden from all but the very highest levels of the Chinese leadership and he was 26 years old at the time. The Panchens situation worsened when the Cultural Revolution began, in October 1977, he was released but held under house arrest in Beijing until 1982. After his release, he was considered by the PRC authorities to be politically rehabilitated and he served as Vice Chairman of the National Peoples Congress. In 1978, after giving up his vows of a monk, he traveled around China. He began courting Li Jie, a soldier and medical student at Fourth Military Medical University in Xian and they personally intervened to wed the couple in a large ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in 1979
