Too early to tell; Zhou Enlai
It is more than 50 years since Zhou Enlai said that it was too early to say how the French Revolution had turned out.
Copilot: The famous quote attributed to Zhou Enlai—“It is too early to say” in response to a question about the French Revolution—is widely misunderstood.
- The quote was reportedly made during a conversation in the early 1970s, possibly during U.S. President Nixon’s visit to China.
- Zhou Enlai was thought to be commenting on the long-term impact of the 1789 French Revolution.
- However, Chas Freeman, the interpreter present at the time, later clarified that Zhou was actually referring to the 1968 student protests in Paris, not the 18th-century revolution.
- The misunderstanding arose from a mix-up in translation and context. The term “French Revolution” was used ambiguously, and Zhou interpreted it as referring to the recent upheaval in 1968.
- The quote was “too delicious to invite correction,” as Freeman put it, and it quickly became a symbol of China’s supposed long-term strategic thinking.
So, while Zhou Enlai did say it was “too early to say,” he wasn’t talking about the storming of the Bastille—he was talking about student protests that had happened just a few years earlier.
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