国内英语新闻:Through thick and thin, late leader Deng's wife stood beside him

    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 Dec. 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 U.S. dollars). 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.