Zhou Gengsheng

Zhou Gengsheng was a Chinese jurist, historian and academic.

Biography

Born in Changsha County, Hunan, the son of a school principal, Zhou studied political economy at Waseda University in Japan, obtained a master's degree in political economy from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and a doctorate in international law from the University of Paris in France.
Zhou served as professor of political science at Peking University, and professor of diplomatic history and public international law at Wuhan University. From 1945 to 1949, he was president of Wuhan University.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he served as vice chairman of the Central-South Military and Political Committee, special adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, deputy director of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and director of the Committee of International Treaties of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A personal friend of Zhou Enlai, he was accepted as a member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1956.