{"id":2918,"date":"2014-09-06T18:41:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T18:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2014-09-06T18:41:46","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T18:41:46","slug":"my-personal-memories-as-deng-xiaopings-interpreter-from-oriana-fallaci-to-kim-il-sung-to-gorbachev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/my-personal-memories-as-deng-xiaopings-interpreter-from-oriana-fallaci-to-kim-il-sung-to-gorbachev","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Weiwei:My Personal Memories as Deng Xiaoping&#8217;s Interpreter: From Oriana Fallaci to Kim Il-sung to Gorbachev"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;color: #444444;line-height: 1.7\">Posted: 08\/25\/2014 1:02 pm EDT Updated: 08\/25\/2014 3:59 pm EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/n-DENG-XIAOPING-MIKHAIL-GORBACHEV-large570.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2919\" alt=\"Chinese President Deng Xiaoping (C) ushe\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/n-DENG-XIAOPING-MIKHAIL-GORBACHEV-large570-300x125.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/n-DENG-XIAOPING-MIKHAIL-GORBACHEV-large570-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/n-DENG-XIAOPING-MIKHAIL-GORBACHEV-large570.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nDENG XIAOPING MIKHAIL GORBACHEV<\/p>\n<p>Distributed by the Guancha Syndicate<\/p>\n<p>SHANGHAI &#8212; August 22 marked the anniversary of Deng Xiaoping&#8217;s birth 110 years go. Though <!--more-->it has been 17 years since he left us, his eyes, sharp and deep, remain vivid in my memory. Though his demeanor was that of a calm and gentle old man, his determined gaze betrayed a will as hard as iron &#8212; a will that has shaped an entire nation.<\/p>\n<p>As an interpreter for Deng and other senior Chinese leaders in the 1980s, I was fortunate to have had the opportunities to be in touch with this great statesman at close range.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/o-453888520-570.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2920\" alt=\"o-453888520-570\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/o-453888520-570-300x233.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/o-453888520-570-300x233.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/o-453888520-570.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Deng with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci<\/p>\n<p>Deng was a true character with a famously blunt and direct manner. When he received Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in 1980, they spoke for hours and she asked very tough questions. During a break, Deng asked her: &#8220;Do you also speak to your father like this?&#8221; Fallaci said yes. &#8220;Doesn&#8217;t your father give you a slap on your face?&#8221; Deng asked, laughing. The combative Fallaci was clearly impressed with her combative subject who spoke so candidly on and off the record.<\/p>\n<p>I also observed Deng in his meetings with foreign leaders, including Kim Il-sung from North Korea, Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe, Mikhail Gorbachev from the Soviet Union and Jerry Rawlings from Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/zhang-weiwei\/deng-xiaoping-remembered_b_5706143.html?utm_hp_ref=twFor detail please visit here\">For detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted: 08\/25\/2014 1:02 pm EDT Updated:  &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/my-personal-memories-as-deng-xiaopings-interpreter-from-oriana-fallaci-to-kim-il-sung-to-gorbachev\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[755,851],"views":3495,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2921,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions\/2921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}