Jottings from the Granite Studio

On this date in 1963, Mao Zedong launched the “Learn from Lei Feng” campaign. The most important lesson I’ve learned from Lei Feng is to look out for falling telephone poles, but maybe I’m not the target audience. Anyway, in case you missed it, Lei Feng was a young soldier in the PLA whose selfless [...]

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Zhou Enlai (1898-1976)
Today is the birthday of Zhou Enlai, born in Hui’an in Jiangsu Province in 1898. Zhou’s grandfather was a minor official but like many scholar families in the late Qing, the Zhou clan had fallen on hard times, and despite many attempts, Zhou Enlai’s father failed to pass the imperial examinations. At the [...]

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