Through thick and thin, Zhuo was with Deng

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-01 01:52

BEIJING: In an unexceptional courtyard on the street behind Jingshan Hill in central Beijing, two Chinese pines stand side by side.

This was the residence of Zhuo Lin, widow of China's late leader Deng Xiaoping. On Wednesday, she passed away, aged 93.

Deng was also 93 when he died 12 years ago.

To complete the last trip with her beloved husband, Zhuo chose to have her ashes scattered at sea as her husband's were.

Together through life

Born in southwestern Yunnan province, she joined the Communist Party of China in 1938 and was a former consultant of the Central Military Commission General Office.

She met Deng in the revolutionary shrine Yan'an in 1939 and had accompanied him throughout his extraordinary life, from the Anti-Japanese War from late 1930s to the 1940s to his dark days of repression in the "Cultural Revolution" from 1966 to 1976.

Deng Xianqun, Deng's younger sister, recalled how Deng and Zhuo used to have a tacit understanding between each other.

"My big brother didn't love talking, but my sister-in-law was just the opposite," she said.

According to their children, Zhuo had taken care of all the details of Deng's life, including what to wear and how many sleeping pills he should take.

In 1966, when the political storms swept Deng from power as Chinese vice premier, Zhuo was bewildered, wondering what had happened exactly and what the future would hold.

But she chose to trust him and be with him.

"I've been with him for so long that I'm certain he's an upright man," she told their daughter, Deng Nan.

In 1969, Deng was exiled to eastern Jiangxi Province to work on farms.

Deng Lin, their eldest daughter, said Zhuo often spoke of the days in Jiangxi when they dug the land, pulled weeds and spread manure.

"Mother mostly did easy work, like cooking, as she was not very healthy," Deng Lin said.

Fulfilling his wishes

In February, 1997, Deng died.

Later that year, Hong Kong was returned to China by the United Kingdom. However, for the leader who negotiated the city's handover, his wish of "setting foot on Kong Kong as our own land" never came true.

The then 81-year-old Zhuo ventured to Hong Kong, for him.

Dressed in the new clothes their children made for her specially for the trip, Zhuo witnessed the historic ceremony.

Deng Rong, their youngest daughter, said, "My mother was so excited. She knew she was making the trip for my father."

On the eve of the ceremony, Zhuo stayed up all night.

"She said our father would be happy to know that she had fulfilled his wish," Deng Rong said.

Two years later, on December 20, 1999, Zhuo realized another wish of Deng's when she witnessed the return of Macao, a former colony of Portugal.

"My father and mother did not just share a family, they shared political ideals and life pursuits," Deng Rong said.

Love for the family

In Deng's former office, a green-shaded desk lamp witnessed how Zhuo had always loved family and friends.

Under this lamp Zhuo wrote math exercises for Deng Nan, who loved solving problems, but had to borrow them from her teacher. In days of impoverishment, this was the only way to get the exercises as they were not available on market.

It was under this lamp that Zhuo knitted sweaters and woollen underwear for the children, and supervised her son as he practised writing Chinese characters.

"Our mother always thought her main job was to take good care of the family and not let us distract our father," Deng Lin said.

Besides their own five children, Zhuo looked after her elder sister's children, and Deng's younger sister and her children, who all lived under Deng's roof.

"Our mother's influence on us was unconscious," Deng Rong said. "Not only in the way we thought, but in choosing the paths of our lives."

Devoted donors

The couple gave generously.

In 1992, when the China Youth Development Foundation campaigned for the charitable Hope Project, "an old Communist Party member" donated 5,000 yuan ($732). The "Party member" was later confirmed to be Deng Xiaoping and his wife Zhuo Lin.

"Mother raised the idea first," Deng Nan said. "She was also the one who took care of it."

Zhuo's donations to charity never stopped, even after Deng's death.

On May 15, 2008, three days after the 8-magnitude earthquake jolted southwestern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, the Red Cross Society of China received a donation of 100,000 yuan from Zhuo Lin.

She also asked her children to make donations.

In her last days, she urged the children to make her funeral simple.

She also asked to donate her cornea.

On Wednesday, her children set up the room she used to live in as a memorial, where friends and relatives could pay their respects. A happy Zhuo looked over the room from a photograph.

"All through her life, she loved smiling," Deng Rong said.