"During my visit to China, I had a number of talks with the Chinese readers. I had long talks with Premier Chou En-lai [Zhou Enlai] separately. I also had joint talks with Chairman Mao Tse-tung [Mao Zedong] and his principal colleagues, viz., Vice-Chairman Chu The, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Peoples Congress Liu Shao-chi [Liu Shaoqi], Premier Chou En-lai, Vice-Chairman Soong ching-ling [Song Qingling] (Madame Sun Yat-Sen), Vice-Premier Chen Yen and Chinese Ambassador in India. On our side in these joint talks, we had our Secretary General, N.R. Pillai, and our Ambassador in Peking, N.Reghavan. We both had interpreters with us.
I met separately the principal Ministers dealing with economic and financial policy and the Five Year Plan. Also ministers dealing with land problem and flood control.
All these talks were through interpreters. Chairman Mao and most of his colleagues did not understand English at all. Premier Chou En-lai understood English a little and occasionally said a word or two in English, but his knowledge of English was limited. Madame Sun Yat-sen, of course, knew English well and I had a separate direct talk with her also."
