Odyssey of love and her bond with China

By Jiang Wanjuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-06 15:02

In her book, she describes an incident to illustrate this. One day, they were waiting for a bus in Moscow. When the bus pulled up, Li jumped in and left her to fight her way in. She was so angry that she stood on the sidewalk while the bus sped away.

A few minutes later, Li ran back after exiting at the next stop, sweating and confused.

"Why didn't you board the bus," he asked.

She explained that it was common practice in Russia for men to allow the women to board first. She was too upset to follow him.

Recalling their lives in prison, she jokes: "He was jailed in the Soviet Union before I was jailed in China. We are even on this matter.

"I improved my Chinese in prison and he improved his Russian in prison."

The book is authentic in its storytelling and most stories come from the heart. Her loyalty to China isn't wrapped in diplomatic jargon.

For example, when asked if she was proud of being a member of the CPPCC, she replied: "No, I'm not proud of myself, but I'm proud of the Party and this country. I never thought China would have the chance to hold the 2008 Olympic Games when I first arrived here."

Kishkina attended the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics despite her frailty, the four-hour security check, and the heat of August, against the wishes of her family.

"I knew I wouldn't have a second chance to watch the Olympic inauguration," she says. "It was China's dream as well as mine."

In the 1980s, when she had already lived in China for at least 30 years, she casually asked a Chinese friend why so many Chinese were so eager to go to the United States and other countries.

"Why do most people dream of moving abroad, I have never had the desire to do so," she said. Her Chinese friend laughed and reminded the Russian that she was, in fact, already abroad.

"Yes, you are right, but I don't feel like I have been living abroad," she responded.

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