In June of 1957, Kazantzakis visited China as a guest of the Chinese government. He returned with his health impaired by leukemia. He was hospitalized in Copenhagen of Denmark and Freiburg of Germany, where he eventually died on October 26th of 1957 at the age of 74. However, according to other testimonies, the signs of leukemia were evident in Kazantzakis in the winter of 1938, 19 years before its end, which is due to a severe form of Asian flu.