Text/Luo Yuansheng
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, I interviewed Chen Deyou, a well-known health care expert, at a certain Xiugan office of the People's Liberation Army in the western suburbs of Beijing, about the later life and spiritual world of the great deng xiaoping.
Chen Deyou, born in February 1959 in Dingyuan, Anhui Province, graduated from the Second Military Medical University (now the Naval Military Medical University) in 1984, worked in the PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital) for a long time, and served as Deng Xiaoping's health doctor from 1989 until the death of Comrade Xiaoping in 1997, and then returned to the clinical frontline of the PLA General Hospital. He is currently the chief physician of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of a medical center of the PLA General Hospital.
Q: Comrade Xiaoping lived to be more than 90 years old, which should be regarded as a long-lived old man, and he was still free to move until his old age, with strong energy and quick thinking. What kind of living habits did Comrade Xiaoping have in his later years? You worked in healthcare around him for 8 years, how do you see him in his later years?
Answer: Comrade Xiaoping's health has always been relatively healthy in his later years, and his mind is also very clear, and many people have asked us about his "longevity secret". In fact, in the eyes of those of us around the medical staff, if there is any secret, it is that he has adhered to the regularity and scientificity of life for many years.
Especially in his later years, Comrade Xiaoping attaches great importance to physical health, and has formed a unique set of fitness experiences in diet, sports, medical treatment, and emotions. It is these fitness methods that make Comrade Xiaoping a long-lived and healthy old man.
Comrade Xiaoping usually gets up at 6:30 in the morning, and then walks in the courtyard for half an hour, and at 8 o'clock he has breakfast, and the breakfast is mostly drinking light soy milk, eating oil cakes or steamed buns. At 9 o'clock, I began to listen to the secretary read the news summaries of domestic and foreign newspapers and periodicals in the study (working office).
Around 12:30, it was time for him to have lunch, and if there was no visit, Comrade Xiaoping usually dined with his family. The whole family, including the secretary, consisted of thirteen or four people, who sat at two tables, usually four dishes, and placed a plate of salted peppers, that is, Sichuan kimchi, at the table. Comrade Xiaoping especially likes to eat spicy, but the rest of the family is not used to it, so he asks for a dish for him to enjoy "special".
Around 6:30 is the time for dinner, and Comrade Xiaoping asked that the family must arrive at dinner before the meal starts. In the autumn of 1990, his daughter returned to Beijing from Guangzhou, and due to the delay in the flight, it was nearly 9 p.m. when she returned home, and Comrade Xiaoping had to wait for her to return before she could eat. He was a father full of warmth. There were seventeen or eight people for dinner, making a soup and a plate of fried peanuts, soybeans, broad beans, and miscellaneous nuts. In the process of eating, Comrade Xiaoping loved to inquire about some of the situations of his children outside, but only listened to and did not answer. He was very attentive to the children's appetite for eating, and when he found out who was eating less, he asked: "Is it because you are unwell and have you seen a doctor?" "But he himself has a personality, even if there is any illness, he does not want to go to the doctor, and he will not take the medicine prescribed by the doctor according to the instructions." In the spring of 1990, when he returned to Beijing from an inspection tour in other places, Comrade Xiaoping fell ill with a serious cold. He only had an injection, but he didn't take the medicine, and our doctor had to tell my daughter to pour water to urge him to take the medicine.
◆ Deng Xiaoping's later life.
Of course, this regular life is often interrupted by work and physical condition.
When he needs to go to the hospital for inpatient examination and treatment, he will eat the "nutritious diet" prepared by the hospital.
In the hospital, Comrade Xiaoping in his later years has a very special requirement for "nutritious meals" here.
His breakfast is very simple, a few small dishes, or millet, rice porridge, or mung beans, cornmeal porridge, usually do not drink milk, the most "luxury" is a fried egg.
Lunch is generally four dishes and one soup, there are meat and vegetarian, the logistics department of the hospital always finds some chefs with cooking experience and understanding of Comrade Xiaoping's living habits to serve him. These "masters" all feel that Comrade Xiaoping's requirements for life are not like a "high-ranking cadre", but more like an ordinary sick number, especially good service. He eats the common "risotto" of ordinary people's homes, rice, green vegetables, tofu, eggs boiled, which is both a home-cooked meal and a "nutritious meal" with a sick number.
On this point, Deng Lin, the eldest daughter of Comrade Xiaoping, later mentioned many times in an article recalling her father, "Our family's leftovers and leftovers are not allowed to be poured, and they are made into stewed vegetables and risotto, and then eaten next time." Dad said that it was a fool who wouldn't eat leftovers. Our whole family should not be fools. ”
Comrade Xiaoping ate very quickly, breakfast was solved in a few minutes, and lunch was only about ten minutes.
As for drinking, Comrade Xiaoping used to drink quite well. After he turned eighty, he gradually changed from drinking liquor to drinking yellow wine with health care effects every day, that is, the kind of rice wine, drinking a small cup at noon and evening. It can also be seen that he has a super strong will.
Q: In the process of providing medical care for Comrade Xiaoping, how did Comrade Xiaoping cooperate with your daily medical work?
A: Comrade Xiaoping always cooperates with the service of medical staff very tacitly.
He smoked all his life, and in 1989 to the age of 85, we medical staff advised him to quit smoking, and he immediately quit smoking, and he never smoked a cigarette again.
When he went to the hospital for examination and treatment, Comrade Xiaoping conscientiously abided by the hospital's regulations, such as the visiting system, the accompaniment system, etc., and sometimes he solemnly reminded the staff around him to think more about the hospital, think more about the medical staff, and listen to the doctors.
When the medical staff examined his body and put forward some beneficial health opinions or suggestions for him, Comrade Xiaoping said humorously: "Make me a 5-year plan!" Whenever the medical staff wanted to check his body or take a treatment measure, he would often humorously say to the medical staff: "Do you think I am particularly obedient?" ”
He was always considerate of the work that medical staff had done for him. Once, Comrade Xiaoping's illness was more serious, the medical team repeatedly studied the treatment plan, but it could not work in time, and the medical staff felt guilty for not being able to relieve Comrade Xiaoping's illness quickly. Lying on the sickbed, Comrade Xiaoping watched the medical staff exchange uneasy eyes with each other, he forced himself to endure the pain, sat up, and said word by word: "Don't be nervous, I have nothing to do with me." ”
Due to the good cooperation between the doctor and the patient, each examination and treatment was smooth, the effect was very good, and Comrade Xiaoping's physical and psychological condition continued to improve.
◆ On April 6, 1986, Deng Xiaoping had dinner with his family.
In order to make the medical staff not nervous in the process of medical care, Comrade Xiaoping always shows ease and humor in front of the medical staff who serve their own health, regards himself as an ordinary person or an ordinary patient, without any special requirements, he is always for the sake of the medical staff, afraid of trouble to them.
Sometimes when his body is really uncomfortable, he uses "I'm okay" to comfort the medical staff. The medical staff who have accompanied Comrade Xiaoping for a long time know that "I am fine" has almost become a common phrase for Comrade Xiaoping in the hospital.
In December 1976, Comrade Xiaoping suffered from serious diseases in the urinary system due to his perennial busyness with state affairs, long periods of sedentary and lack of sleep, coupled with his higher age.
Before the examination, the doctor repeatedly stressed that the examination may bring physical discomfort, and Comrade Xiaoping only waved his hand after hearing it, and said in a thick Sichuan accent: "It's all right, you doctors are assured of examination." During the examination process, Comrade Xiaoping also constantly encouraged doctors not to worry and to follow the medical procedures with confidence.
Since this disease of the urinary system appears for the first time and appears a second time, after many discussions and weighing the pros and cons, everyone finally and cautiously decided to operate on Comrade Deng Xiaoping and eliminate the disease at once.
After determining the treatment plan, the hospital first informed Comrade Xiaoping of the treatment plan of the operation and his family, and after hearing the doctor's advice, Comrade Xiaoping said very calmly: "There is no problem, I have long said that I want surgery, you can rest assured to do it, do it well, so as not to cause trouble in the future." ”
The night before the operation began, urology Li Yantang as the main doctor involved in the treatment task, Comrade Xiaoping's wife Zhuo Lin was a little worried at this time, after all, this is a big operation, and Comrade Xiaoping's age is also higher, Zhuo Lin asked uneasily: "Will there be any problems after you see the operation?" ”
Comrade Xiaoping immediately said, "If you don't understand, don't ask." ”
Then he calmly turned around and encouraged the doctor with a thick Sichuan accent: "I am assured that you hospital, you will do your best to treat, and there is no absolute thing in the world, that is, there is a problem, it is also myself and my whole family who are responsible, tonight you sleep well and do not have any worries." ”
Li Yantang mentioned in later recollections: "Elder Deng's words made me deeply moved, no one had ever said such a thing to me before, Elder Deng understood psychology very well, he knew that a senior cadre like him doing surgery would make the doctor's pressure very high, if the doctor was nervous, he would not be able to play a good technique, his words made me mentally and mentally relaxed." ”
The next day the operation began, Comrade Xiaoping also maintained amazing composure, general anesthesia can make the patient's pain in the operation to the minimum, but Comrade Xiaoping insisted on not choosing general anesthesia, only partial anesthesia at the surgical site.
Comrade Xiaoping's mind is also very clear, he is also unwilling to sleep, when the doctor of the anesthesiology department asked whether to use some drugs to sleep, he just said lightly: "It doesn't matter, I don't use medicine, it's okay, you can do it with confidence." ”
Comrade Xiaoping's breezy words made the atmosphere in the operating room suddenly relaxed a lot, and at the same time realized that this was a true materialist, able to maintain calm in the face of pain.
The operation was carried out for more than an hour, because the doctor's preoperative judgment was very accurate, so there was not a lot of blood, and everyone was relieved.
Li Yantang sighed in his later recollections: "The reason why a great man is a great man, the will is really unusual. ”
Q: For more than half a century since he joined the revolution, Comrade Xiaoping has always regarded swimming and playing bridge as his greatest hobby. As a medical expert, how do you see these ways of fitness?
A: People who are familiar with Comrade Xiaoping, especially the staff and medical staff around him, know that Comrade Xiaoping is in good health and is related to his good and healthy lifestyle.
Comrade Xiaoping himself once said to others, "Good health, probably I like to swim, especially in the sea is the best, I am OK!" As for brain power, playing bridge is the best, whether your brain is dull, as soon as you play bridge, you will understand immediately. ”
◆ In 1992, when Deng Xiaoping inspected the south, he read Hubei Daily on a special train.
For more than half a century since he joined the revolution, Comrade Xiaoping has always regarded swimming and playing bridge as his greatest hobbies.
In the ward, in the interval between the mood, Comrade Xiaoping often talked to the medical staff about his two "protective magic weapons" and even had the urge to play bridge with people and go out for a swim.
Playing bridge was learned by Comrade Xiaoping in Sichuan in the 1950s and has since become a hobby. He even said, "Only when I play bridge, I don't think about anything, I concentrate on the cards, and my mind can rest fully." Sometimes, he speaks in a musical Sichuan dialect, "Play cards with masters, and lose also has a taste!" ”
In 1981, the World Association of Bridge Journalists presented Comrade Xiaoping with the Bridge Honor Award, saying that he was the person who contributed the most to bridge in the world. Yang Xiaoyan, the Empress of Bridge and a Chinese-American, represented Comrade Xiaoping at the award ceremony held in the United States and accepted this honor.
Like Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping loved to swim, especially in the sea. The water is wide and the sky is comfortable, the waves are undulating, and the embrace and fortitude of the water strikers are displayed.
In 1992, Comrade Xiaoping was 88 years old. That summer, the family went to Beidaihe for the last time. Based on his physical condition, the medical team decided not to let him go to the sea.
Beidaihe is windy and sunny, and the weather is particularly good. Comrade Xiaoping sat on the shore and watched everyone swim, and his heart was itching. Every morning when he got up, he asked: How is the weather today? How strong is the wind? How high is the water temperature? Are the waves big? The people around him knew his thoughts, so they went to ask Wu Weiran, the president of Beijing Hospital. After research, I finally agreed that Comrade Xiaoping would go to sea. Comrade Xiaoping was very happy. The nurse said to him gently, "Let's go to the sea today and do a little better, swim less." We'll be able to approve another tour tomorrow, okay?" It's hard to go down, I won't! "At this time, Comrade Xiaoping really looked like a wayward child.
◆ In 1989, Deng Xiaoping swam in the Beidaihe River.
He went to sea eight times that year, each lasting about 45 minutes. It was the last time of his life that he would swim in the sea.
In the summer of the following year, an enthusiastic reporter asked Comrade Xiaoping's youngest daughter, Deng Rong (Mao Mao), "Why didn't Comrade Xiaoping go to Beidaihe to recuperate this summer?" Mao Mao said: "He is 89 years old this year, and the doctor said that he could not be allowed to swim in the water under any circumstances." If you can't swim in the water, then why go to Beidaihe? So he stayed in Beijing for a summer. ”
The two major hobbies of swimming and bridge have caused him to alternately relax and repeatedly hone his physical and intellectual strength, which has a positive potential effect.
Question: Comrade Xiaoping was optimistic and strong all his life, how did he view life and death in the last days of his life? His attitude towards life in his later years has many important implications for us.
Answer: Comrade Xiaoping's usual introverted personality, calm and taciturn, and his revolutionary career of more than half a century have enabled him to cultivate a style of not being afraid of danger and not being excited in the face of joy, especially in dealing with personal destiny. In the face of adversity, he is good at using optimism to treat everything, and uses some practical work to regulate life, never feeling empty and wandering.
On October 10, 1984, when former Federal German Chancellor Kohl asked Comrade Kohira about the "secret of longevity", his answer was: "I have always been optimistic, the sky is falling, and I am not afraid, because there are tall people on top." ”
On July 15, 1985, at the Great Hall of the People, Comrade Xiaoping received The Prime Minister chambers of Trinidad and Tobago. When Chambers visited China 10 years ago, he met Comrade Xiaoping, who presided over the work of the Central Committee, and when he came to visit again 10 years later, There were two points that Chambers felt most deeply: First, China's reform and opening up in the past few years has produced exciting and great changes; second, Comrade Xiaoping, who is 81 years old, is so physically tough and full of spirit. He took a keen interest in both.
"I'd like to ask you what's the secret to staying healthy?" Chambers made no secret of his admiration for Comrade Xiaoping's physical health.
Many guests have asked me, and my answer is still four words – optimism. I'm a three-on-three person and optimistic about everything. Without such conviction, I would not have lived today. ”
In his later years, Deng Xiaoping loved to read martial arts novels, and he said that reading martial arts novels did not require using his brain, relaxed, pastimed, and rested. The office ordered more than a dozen newspapers and magazines for him, and he read each one very carefully and carefully, which became another channel for him to understand society and communicate with the world after he retired.
"He loves neatness, he loves cleanliness, he dresses simply, plainly, and old-fashioned. Except in his early years in France, the Soviet Union and other places he wore suits, and after that, he never wore suits. Go out for a walk in winter, do not love to wear a hat, do not love to wear a scarf, and wear only two pairs of single pants on the lower body, one pair of cloth lining pants, and one pair of polyester card pants; A shirt, a sweater, a zhongshan suit, and sometimes a coat, the same is true on snowy days. Whoever advised him to wear more clothes would say: Not that blessed. Or ask rhetorically: Are you cold or not? Why don't you let me wear more when you're not cold? ”
Deng Lin said in the reminiscence article: "Dad didn't talk much at home, and when he said it, he was to the point, and he was humorous and funny. He didn't like to visit the door or pull relations; he didn't go to anyone's house except for a few old comrades-in-arms and old neighbors. He doesn't care about things, he doesn't care about small things, he doesn't care, he doesn't complain. The children quarreled, he said: Go outside and argue. He misjudges and constantly right and wrong. He believes that the little quarrels of the children will soon pass. ”
◆ At the bridge table, Deng Xiaoping smiled brightly.
In November 1989, Deng Xiaoping officially retired and began a real old age. At No. 3 Miliangku Hutong on Beijing's Jingshan Backstreet, in a two-lane courtyard full of green bricks and gray tiles and greenery, Deng Xiaoping stopped working.
On Deng's desk, there is a set of 4 zodiac sculptures and a small basket, which are birthday gifts given to him by his grandchildren on his birthday.
Hidden in the basket are 2 large pigs and 5 small pigs, the former representing Deng Xiaoping and his wife Zhuo Lin, and the latter representing Deng Xiaoping's 5 children. As for the 4 pottery sculptures of the remaining genera, they represent the 4 grandchildren in the family.
Deng Xiaoping was very fond of children, and if he were asked which grandson he liked the most, he would certainly answer the youngest, because in his eyes, a two- or three-year-old child was a "living toy" that could be "fiddled with" at will.
Unlike most busy people, he would indulge his children to drill under his desk. Occasionally feeling a little tired, Zhuo Lin will deliberately bring the children to him and let him take the opportunity to "relax and relax".
It is precisely because of Deng Xiaoping's kindness and tolerance that the grandchildren of the family also love Grandpa very much. As long as it is Grandpa's birthday, they will unite to make various handmade gifts to grandpa to show their respect for grandpa.
Deng Xiaoping spent three birthdays in Beidaihe in a row, and the children who could not find suitable materials drew chalk drawings by themselves, and the childlike picture made Deng Xiaoping particularly happy.
Once, Dunlin happened to see Dad walking with her camera on hand. So she immediately called out to Deng Xiaoping and asked him to sit on the ground in a row with the children, leaving a very childlike and chic photo of "Sitting in a Row".
Most of them stay with the children, and the elderly will regain their "naivety". Comrade Xiaoping once said to his family with great pride: "If there is really the best grandfather in the world, then I will definitely be one of the winners!" ”
Comrade Xiaoping's life in the last three years is also recorded in only 8 pages in the "Deng Xiaoping Chronicle". Once he stopped working, Xiaoping's life was uneventful. Deng Lin once said that she gave herself a TV documentary proposition to make "Deng Xiaoping's Day", but gave up after several attempts. His daily life was too regular, too ordinary. "You want to find a dramatic picture, you want a particularly interesting shot, you can't find it." She said, "So I didn't succeed in shooting it a few times." ”
On December 22, 1996, Deng Xiaoping was once again admitted to the Platon General Hospital due to illness. He had only the last two months of his life. In the hospital, he saw the TV documentary "Deng Xiaoping" that was being played. Nurses at the Pla.C. General Hospital later recalled that when Deng Xiaoping saw himself, his face suddenly turned red.
Comrade Xiaoping has a simple materialist view of life, old age, illness and death, and he even said that "it is a happy thing for people to live to be eighty or ninety years old, and it is also a happy thing to die." The back wave of the Yangtze River pushes the front wave, and the new person always has to replace the old man." Such a frank and open-minded mentality makes him not have an excessive psychological burden, which is very beneficial to his health in his later years.
His illness was slightly more severe, and he was suffering from morning to night. But he was very strong, and he didn't say a word from beginning to end, and he seemed extremely calm.
In the face of impending death, he has always maintained extraordinary calm and self-confidence. On February 7, the first day of the Chinese New Year, he was unable to leave the hospital, and the medical staff around him also "worked overtime".
At 21:08 on February 19, 1997, 12 days later, Comrade Xiaoping died at the age of 93 in the Platon's General Hospital at the age of 93 due to advanced Parkinson's disease, complicated by lung infection, coupled with respiratory and circulatory failure.
◆ On July 3, 2021, the author Luo Yuansheng (left) interviewed Director Chen Deyou.
Comrade Xiaoping has no cemetery, and the place where he sleeps forever is the sea he loved all his life. As he had prayed, "dust to dust, earth to earth," and henceforth he could freely travel around and appreciate the world he had longed for the most, without having to toil any more to blame.
Comrade Xiaoping is a great man of a generation, but his life is as simple as ordinary people. In his life, political "three falls and three ups", personal life and family members have also suffered many ups and downs, but he has never complained about the world in adversity, and has always maintained an optimistic attitude. The medical staff around him believe that Comrade Xiaoping has to enjoy the advanced age of more than 90 years, which is inseparable from his simple lifestyle and optimistic and positive attitude towards life.
Thank you Director Chen. I am very honored and happy that you are interviewed by me today! General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China emphasized, "Jiangshan is the people, and the people are Jiangshan." Comrade Xiaoping has said many times, "I am the son of Chinese people." I love my country and people with deep affection. In 1981, he personally wrote a 900-word preface to The Collected Works of Deng Xiaoping, which also included this sentence. Here, we seem to be able to touch his affectionate heart. Comrade Xiaoping was a warm and kind old man, an excellent representative of the Chinese Communists, who dedicated everything to the people of the Chinese and established immortal merits for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation and for the cause of China's socialist modernization. His life was great and noble, and his name will forever be imprinted in the hearts of the people.
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