The quest
Taking the train,the two friends arrived in Berlin in later October 1992, and event directly to the address of Chou En-lai. Would this man receive them as fellow countrymen, or would he treat them with cold suspicion and question them cautiously about their past careers as militarists? Chu The rememgered his age. He was thirty-six, his young had passed like a screaming eagle, leaving him old and disillusioned.
When Chou En-lai's door opened they saw a slender man of more than average height with gleaming eyes and a face to striking that it bordered on the beautiful. Yet it was a manly face, serious and intelligent, and Chu judged him to be in his middle twenties.
Chou was a quiet and thoughtful man, even a little shy as he welcomed his visitors, urged them to be seated and to tell how he dould help them .
Ignoring the chair offered him, Chu The stood squarely before this youth more than ten years his junior and in a level voice told him who he was, what he had done in the past, how he had fled from Yunnan, talked with Sun Yat-sen, been repulsed by Chen Tu-hsiu in Shanghai, and had come to Europe to find a new way of life for himself and a new revolutionary road for China. He wanted to join the Chinese Communist Part group in Berlin, He would study and work hard, He would do anything he was asked to do but return to his old life, which had turned to ashes beneath his feet.
As he talked Chou Wn-lai stood facing him, his head 1 little to one side as was his habit, listening intently until the story was told, and then questioning him.
When both vistors had told their stories, Chou smiled a little, said he would help them find rooms, and arrange for them to join the Berlin Communist Group as candidates until their application had been sent to China and an answer received. When the reply came a few months later they were enrolled as full members, but Chu's membership was kept a secret from outsiders.