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Deng's modest widow remembered with affection

By Yang Guang and Lin Shujuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-31 07:03

The death of Zhuo Lin, widow of the late former leader Deng Xiaoping, has brought mourners to the gate of a courtyard in Beijing's Miliangku Hutong, where Zhuo and the Deng family had lived since 1979.

File photo of Deng Xiaoping and his wife Zhuo Lin (L). [Xinhua]

Funeral wreaths extended 50 m along both sides of the hutong by midday yesterday before they were carried to the memorial service hall inside the residence, according to An Qijun, 59, who has lived in the hutong since birth.

Access to the memorial service hall was restricted to relatives and close friends of the Deng family.

Most of the mourners came to stand silently in front of the gate and pay their respects by leaving funeral wreaths and flowers, said An, whose son-in-law was Zhuo's driver.

Despite the crowds, the hutong retained a tranquil air.

Related readings:  Widow of Deng, Zhuo Lin, dies at 93  Deng Xiaoping's widow dies at 93

"We know she would prefer a silent farewell considering how low-key a person she was all through her lifetime," said An.

Zhuo was not active in politics and most of her public appearances were limited to ceremonial occasions. But she was a constant and strong supporter of Deng and helped him survive a series of political purges during his long career, including the darkest days of the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976), when the family was exiled to Jiangxi province, in southern China.

For a time during this period, the country's future leader and his wife worked in a tractor repair shop.

Zhuo made only two public appearances in the past 12 years - in 1997, months after Deng's passing, she attended festivities in Hong Kong to mark the return of the city to Chinese rule.

And two years later, she appeared at the returning ceremony for Macao. Both public appearances were made in recognition of Deng's role.

Even among her neighbors, she was rarely seen.

"But we know she was very friendly," An said. "Whenever she went out by car, there has never been any honking in the hutong. The car would quietly follow any pedestrians who might have blocked its way."

A neighbor, surnamed Zhang, fondly recalled meeting Zhuo several months ago as she walked from her home.

"She looked energetic for her age," he recalled.

But Zhuo's health started to deteriorate soon after Spring Festival and she was hospitalized, off and on, in recent months, An said.

Zhuo's last days were spent at home, which An said would have been Zhou's wish.

"She was very committed to family life," An said.

While the Deng family declined requests for interviews, Zhuo's daughter, Deng Rong, once revealed that "Zhuo has always been the center of the family as a loving and caring mother and wife".

As of press time, funeral details were not available.

Li Shiji, one of China's top contemporary Peking Opera masters, was a frequent visitor to Zhuo, who was an ardent Peking Opera fan. She, too, offered her condolences at Zhuo's residence yesterday, declining to make a comment because she was "overwhelmed by grief".

Zhuo is understood to have told her children that she was not in favor of a lavish funeral and preferred a simple and intimate memorial attended by relatives and close friends. She also reportedly said she wanted her ashes to be scattered on a river.

Years earlier, she indicated that she wanted to donate her corneas following her death.

Born in April 1916, the youngest daughter of a prosperous ham-and-sausage merchant in Yunnan province, in southwestern China, Zhuo was previously known as Pu Qiongfang.

After attending Peking University, she moved to the Communist Party stronghold at Yan'an in northern China in 1937 where Mao Zedong, Deng, Zhou Enlai and other leaders were stationed. She assumed the name Zhuo Lin and joined the Communist Party in 1938, marrying Deng in 1939 at a wedding attended by Mao.

Mei Jia contributed to the story