Ji Chaozhu was a Chinese diplomat who held a number of important positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, most notably as English interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping; later as Ambassador to the Court of St James's ; and lastly as an Under-secretary General of the United Nations, a post from which he retired in 1996.
11 Facts About Ji Chaozhu
2.
Ji Chaozhu played a central role in the talks leading up to and during President Richard M Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China.
3.
Ji Chaozhu's father was a wealthy landlord, lawyer, and provincial official, while his eldest brother, Ji Chaoding, was a noted economist who earned a Ph.
4.
Ji Chaozhu earned a high school diploma from Horace Mann-Lincoln High School, and attended Camp Rising Sun in 1944.
5.
Ji Chaozhu was a sophomore at Harvard University in 1950 when the Korean War broke out, which saw his native homeland and his adopted country fight on opposite sides.
6.
Ji Chaozhu studied chemistry at Tsinghua University in Beijing, with the goal of being a scientist and developing nuclear weapons for the PRC.
7.
Ji Chaozhu was instead selected to be an interpreter and notetaker at the negotiations in Panmunjom that would eventually bring an end to the Korean War, due to his English-language skills.
8.
Ji Chaozhu holds the distinction of having been interpreter for Mao Zedong's last two official visits with English-speaking dignitaries, in 1976, months before the chairman's death.
9.
Ji Chaozhu served as interpreter for Deng Xiaoping during his visit to the US in 1979.
10.
Ji Chaozhu was highly respected by US officials, so much so that in 1981, then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig specifically asked the PRC to send Ji to meet with Ronald Reagan in an attempt to defuse tensions between the two sides.
11.
Ji Chaozhu died on April 29,2020, at the age of 90 from an undisclosed illness.