arranging the historic meeting between U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon and Mao that paved the way for U.S. recognition of the communist government.
Zhougong or Chou-kung \'jo-'guq\ (fl. 11th century bc, China) Political figure who solidified the power of the Zhou dynasty. On the death of his brother Wuwang, founder of the Zhou, he resisted the temptation to seize the throne and chose instead to serve as counselor to his nephew, the second Zhou ruler. When Zhougong stepped down after seven years, the Zhou political and social system had been stabilized. Confucius so admired Zhougong’s wisdom and virtue as a minister, that he proffered him as a model for rulers of his own time to emulate.
Zhoukoudian Vjo-kod-yonX or Chou-k'ou-tien Archaeological site some 26 mi (42 km) southwest of Beijing, China, where fossil remains of the extinct hominin Homo erectus have been found. So-called Peking man was identified as a new fossil human by Canadian anthropologist Davidson Black in 1927 and variously classified as Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus before being assigned to H. erectus. Partial remains of about 40 individuals along with more than 100,000 artifacts have been uncov¬ ered, making Zhoukoudian one of the most important H. erectus sites in the world. Its strata date to 550,000-230,000 years ago. It was named a World Heritage site in 1987.
Zhu De or Chu Teh Vjii -'de\ (b. Dec. 1, 1886, Yilong, Sichuan prov¬ ince, China—d. July 6, 1976, Beijing) Founder of the Chinese commu¬ nist force that became the People's Liberation Army. Educated at Yunnan Military Academy, Zhu began his military career in the armies of war¬ lords in southern China. He became a communist in the early 1920s but hid his affiliation to become an officer in the Nationalist army. In 1927 he took part in the communist-led Nanchang Uprising, an event celebrated annually in China as the birth of the People’s Liberation Army. When the uprising was defeated, Zhu led his troops south to join Mao Zedong’s small guerrilla forces. He became commander in chief of the communist forces, a position he held through World War II and the civil war with the Nationalists, not stepping down until 1954. With Mao, Zhu is credited with elevating guerrilla warfare to a major strategic concept.
Zhu Rongji Vjii-roq-'jeXorChu Jung-chi (b. Oct. 23,1928, Changsha, Hunan province, China) Premier of the State Council of China (1998— 2003). In the 1950s he was denounced as a rightist, and he was purged again in the 1970s, but, once his Communist Party membership was restored, he rose rapidly. In 1988 he became mayor of Shanghai and in 1991 a deputy premier of the State Council. He was governor of the People’s Bank of China (1993-95) and became director of the Institute for Economic Man¬ agement at Qinghua University in 1994. He was appointed premier in 1998. In the face of the Asian economic crisis at the end of the 1990s, he worked to drastically cut back the size of the government bureaucracy. Zhu, whose economic policies have been both praised and criticized, stepped down as premier in 2003 and was replaced by Wen Jiabao.
Zhu Shijie (fl. 1300, China) Chinese mathematician who stood at the pinnacle of traditional Chinese mathematics. Zhu is known for having unified the southern and northern Chinese mathematical traditions. His fame rests on two publications, Suanxue qimeng (1299; “Introduction to Mathematical Science”) and Siyuan yujian (1303; “Precious Mirror of Four Elements”). The former is an introductory mathematics textbook; following the southern Chinese tradition, it presents many rules and prob¬ lems in the form of verses to facilitate their memorization. It played a central role in the development of the xvasan (“Japanese calculation”) tra¬ dition. “Precious Mirror” corresponds to the final stage in the generali¬ zation of the northern Chinese technique of tian yuan (“method of the celestial unknown”), a kind of algebraic computation performed with counting rods to solve problems.
Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi \'ju-'she\ (b. Oct. 18, 1130, Yu-hsi, Fukien prov¬ ince, China—d. April 23, 1200, China) Chinese philosopher and propo¬ nent of Neo-Confucianism. The son of a minor government official, he was educated in the Confucian tradition and entered government service. Inter¬ ested in history, he revised Sima Guang’s famous history so that it would illustrate moral principles in government. In 1189 he began a commen¬ tary on the Daxue; he continued working on the Daxue all his life. Philo¬ sophically, his thought incorporated the ideas of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073), and Zhang Zai, whose works he compiled. His commentaries on the Four Books, notably on the Lunyu ( Analects ) of Confucius and on Mencius (both 1177), were enormously influential. His philosophy emphasized logic, consistency, observance of classical author¬ ity, and the value of inquiry.
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ZhuYuanzhang ► Zimbabwe I 2109
Zhu Yuanzhang See Hongwu emperor
Zhuangzi or Chuang-tzu Vjwaq-'dziA (b. c. 369, Meng, China—d. 286 bce) Most significant early Chinese interpreter of Daoism and the pur¬ ported author of the Daoist classic that bears his name. A minor official and a contemporary of Mencius, he drew on the sayings of Laozi but took a broader perspective. He taught that enlightenment comes from the real¬ ization that everything is one, the DAO, but that the dao has no limitations or demarcations and whatever can be known or said of the dao is not the dao. He held that things should be allowed to follow their own course and that no situation should be valued over any other.
Zhuge Liang or Chu-ko Liang Vju-'go-le-'aqX (b. ad 181, Yangdu, Shandong province, China—d. August 234, Wuzhangyuan, Shaanxi prov¬ ince, China) Celebrated adviser to Liu Bei, founder of the Shu-Han dynasty of the Six Dynasties period. Liu was so impressed with Zhuge that on his deathbed he urged Zhuge to take the throne himself if his own son proved incapable. A genius in mechanics and mathematics, Zhuge is cred¬ ited with inventing a bow for shooting several arrows at once and with perfecting the Eight Dispositions, a series of military tactics. Supernatu¬ ral powers were often ascribed to him, and he is a favourite character in Chinese plays and stories, notably Sanguozhi yanyi {Romance of the Three Kingdoms). In 1724 he was made a Confucian saint.
Zhukov \'zhii- I k6f\ / Georgy (Konstantinovich) (b. Dec. 1, 1896, Kaluga province, Russia—d. June 18, 1974, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet army commander in World War II. He joined the Red Army in the Russian Civil War and rose to become head of Soviet forces in Manchuria (1938-39). In World War II he was chief of staff of the Red Army and organized the defense of Leningrad and Moscow (1941). He directed the offensive that broke the siege in the Battle of Stalingrad (1943) and was named a marshal of the Soviet Union. After helping win the Battle of Kursk, he directed the Soviet offensive through Belorussia (now Belarus) and commanded the final assault on Berlin (1945). After the war Zhu¬ kov’s great popularity caused him to be regarded as a potential threat by Joseph Staun, who assigned him to obscure regional commands. After Sta¬ lin’s death he was appointed minister of defense (1955) and attempted to make the army more autonomous, but opposition from Nikita Khrushchev caused his dismissal in 1957. He remained in relative obscurity until Khrushchev fell from power in 1964, and he was subsequently awarded the Order of Lenin (1966).