Premier Zhu Rongji's retirement life

Zhu Rongji declined to return to his hometown for reasons

Ruling out malignant tumor

After retirement, Zhu Rongji spent most of his time in Beijing and Shanghai, with ample time to read. When Zhu Rongji was admitted to Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital for eye problems, a small abscess was found on his neck during a physical examination. At the time, there was fear it might be a malignant tumor, which made his wife, Lao An, very uneasy, and other informed individuals were also quite tense. Later, after ruling out the possibility of a malignant tumor, his relatives and friends, as well as the staff around him, were all very happy. It is said that Lao An even shed tears of excitement.

The former premier had no intention of returning to his hometown

After retirement, Zhu Rongji did not live in his hometown of Changsha as rumored. The Zhu family has a ancestral hall in Tangpo, Pinghe Village, in the countryside of Changsha, which was destroyed long ago, leaving only a ginkgo tree. The village secretary went to great lengths to invite Zhu Rongji to visit the countryside and built a beautiful village committee office as a guesthouse, but he never returned. Last year, the village invited him again with great effort, and unable to decline, he ended up not going due to rain. Zhu Rongji visited Tangpo once when he was 17 years old, and thereafter never set foot there again. It is said that he once told provincial and municipal officials in Hunan not to associate his hometown with tourism. Apparently, this former premier had no intention of returning to his hometown to prevent someone from using him for advertising.

However, he had more opportunities to gather with his relatives than when he was in office. On Zhu Jingye's ninetieth birthday, Zhu Jingye invited friends and relatives to celebrate together. During the banquet, he happily read aloud two couplets written by his younger brother shortly before stepping down as Premier of the Republic: "Integrity passed down through storms, clean governance nurtures new people" and "A house full of children brings complete happiness, a hundred years of marital bliss." Seeing the couplets personally written by his younger brother, Zhu Jingye was filled with joy and deep emotion: "Both couplets have strong calligraphy and earnest meanings, akin to a summary of my life, comforting my heart greatly, and inspiring the whole family. Zhu Rongji is known for being upright and clean in office, practical and rigorous in style, rarely inscribing words for others, making these two handwritings especially precious and worth passing down to future generations. Reflecting on 90 years, despite constant setbacks and not achieving great things, I feel mentally free and open-hearted, which is enough to console myself."

Taking care of the greater family, neglecting the smaller one

Zhu Jingye's clan name is Zhu Rongmo, son of Zhu Rongji's third uncle Zhu Kuandun. He left Hunan in his early twenties to study journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai, and in the 1940s went to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the United States for further studies. After returning to China, he served as the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Political School of the Industrial and Commercial Sector of Changning District in Shanghai. Although he has a prime minister as a younger brother, Zhu Jingye and his wife Long Qi still lived in an old-style Shikumen building in Hongkou District, Shanghai, where they spent over fifty springs and autumns.

Zhu Jingye said, Zhu Rongji is straightforward and selfless, with "integrity and clarity" as his motto, but he certainly does not disown his relatives. "He is witty, humorous, values family ties, and will find time to meet with relatives and friends pleasantly, just that he needs to take care of the greater Chinese family, sometimes neglecting his own smaller family." Zhu Jingye remembered that when his younger brother first became mayor of Shanghai, he jokingly asked, "Did I bully you when we were little?" Zhu Rongji burst into laughter upon hearing this. At that time, Zhu Jingye had a wish for his younger brother to write a couplet for him, but unexpectedly, this dream wasn't fulfilled until more than ten years later.

Ancestral integrity

When Zhu Jingye was seriously ill in the hospital, his eldest daughter wrote a letter to Zhu Rongji. Despite being busy, Zhu Rongji always remembered the elder man's wish and took time to write those two couplets. He addressed Zhu Jingye by his childhood nickname "Kui Ge" and cleverly incorporated the characters "Jing Ye" into one of the couplets. Upon receiving the couplets while lying in bed, Zhu Jingye was deeply moved, feeling much better, saying, "It is a great encouragement to me, a summary of my life, and at the same time reflects Zhu Rongji's character, and expands to reflect the character of the Zhu family. 'Integrity passed down,' it is not only his integrity or my integrity, but also the integrity of the previous generation of the Zhu family. I understand there is a deeper meaning, expressing that Zhu Rongji's character today is inherited from ancestors. If expanded further, integrity is a traditional hope of the Chinese nation."

Zhu Rongji considered that Kui Ge was already ninety years old, having just recovered from a serious illness and being physically inconvenient, so he instructed his secretary to call and say he would visit. Zhu Jingye's youngest son, Zhu Kuangyu, Chairman of Shanghai Textile Holding (Group) Co., Ltd., knew about it and quickly called, saying, "Do not trouble Uncle Zhu, our parents can walk, let us visit you." In the Western Suburban Hotel in Shanghai, Zhu Jingye met his younger brother whom he hadn't seen for more than ten years. Zhu Kuangyu brought him a set of "Tang Poetry, Song Ci, Yuan Qu," which he liked very much, saying reading books was his best leisure activity, but he didn't read biographies written about him because they were all pieced together to make money. Not long ago, Zhu Jingye's younger brother wrote a book about Zhu Rongji and sent him a copy, but he didn't even look at it. His younger brother got angry and stormed off to Changsha. Zhu Jingye asked Zhu Rongji why he didn't see the book his younger brother wanted to give him, and he replied, "I don't want to read it."

Three rules between brothers

The conversation lasted for more than two hours, with everyone still enjoying the lively discussion. Zhu Rongji humorously said to Zhu Jingye, "If you're happy, your stomach isn't hungry, I don't mind if you stay longer, but I won't keep you for dinner." No one understands Zhu Rongji's personality better than Zhu Jingye. Back then, Mayor Zhu Rongji of Shanghai, in front of his older brother and sister-in-law, told Zhu Kuangyu, who was then the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Shanghai Textile Bureau, "As long as I am in Shanghai, don't think about getting promoted." Zhu Rongji kept his word, and during his four years in Shanghai, Zhu Kuangyu's position remained unchanged.

When Zhu Rongji was Vice Chairman of the State Economic Commission, Zhu Jingye went to Beijing to see him. During their talk, they agreed on a gentleman's agreement: as long as Zhu Jingye knew someone was trying to contact Zhu Rongji for favors or asking him to relay messages, he would help turn them away. Later, when Zhu came to Shanghai, they re-established three rules. Zhu Jingye joked, "I won't visit you to disturb you, nor will I cause you any trouble, and neither will others, including my own children." Zhu Jingye's siblings asked Zhu Rongji if he could renovate his mother's grave. Zhu Rongji soon replied in a letter declining politely: "Upon receiving your letter, regarding the matter of renovating my mother's grave, it must absolutely not be done, as spreading it would create a bad influence. I deeply appreciate your thoughts."