Deng Pufang: Carrying forward humanitarianism (II)

Reporter: When did the idea of working for the disabled come to your mind?

Deng: I never thought of that at the very beginning. I just discussed the matter with a few fellow patients: There were recovery centers in foreign countries, and people like us needed recovery. This made it necessary for a rehabilitation center to be built in China. But our country lacked sufficient money, so we needed to raise a small sum of money from outside and to set up a foundation. I never thought of anything grand. But, much to my surprise, as soon as the foundation was set up, large amounts of letters and visitors flooded in, and there came all sorts of unfairness toward the disabled in their employment, schooling, treatment, as well as all forms of bullying, insulting and discrimination against them. You can't look upon these without doing anything, you need to do something and do it step by step.

Reporter: Did you ask your parents' opinion about this?

Deng: I told them when I began to put into practice my idea about the establishment of a recovery center, and my mother agreed. She made a special phone call to Cui Naifu, then civil affairs minister, to ask him to help me. I didn't know she did this until Minister Cui himself told me later. I totally depended on my mother in deciding to ask uncles and aunts to come to my help. Later I invited many of them to be my board directors. In this way I began doing this work bit by bit. But later as the work went ahead, more difficulties arose. To overcome these difficulties, I finally set up the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), to work in a big way for the welfare of the disabled, and launch large-scale programs for health recovery, education, employment, publicity as well as for the establishment of a legal system and a working system. This work must be done step by step and in a down-to-earth manner, for only in this way is it possible to make people change their concepts. To change concepts cannot be achieved merely by calling people to do so once or twice. Instead, continuous efforts have to be made to do publicity work among the masses, to remind them of the need to do that and let them hear the term "disabled persons", so they will gradually realize that disabled persons are also human beings after all.

Reporter: Of course, you are doing this work pretty well and in a big way. But how have you achieved this?

Deng: bit by bit and in a thoroughgoing manner. You have to set your eyes on possible crisis, instead of seeing only your achievements. I've done so in the past two decades. I have been trying to find what problems there are with my foundation and my federation. So, from the very beginning, I've taken "humanity, honesty and cleanness" as our vocational ethics.

Reporter: Which period of time was the hardest for you?

Deng: It was really difficult to gear it up at the beginning, but it was also the most flourishing time for our business. Later in 1988, it was alleged that I was the biggest embezzler of China, and that my personal savings deposits in foreign banks exceeded US$30 billion.

Reporter: Was that true?

Deng: I said later at a press conference that if anyone of you could go and find out that sum of money, it would be enough for me to keep only 1 percent of the money and the rest would be donated to the country.

Reporter: But at that time, in people's impression, the Corporation was really booming.

Deng: That's a chance given by history. Since you wanted to start an undertaking, but you had no money, so later you started a company, which was quite normal at that time. But later I realized that operating a company got you entangled in troubles. They said your work on the disabled was a philanthropic undertaking whereas your operation of a company meant to make money, these two categorically different codes of conduct could hardly be harmonized in our organization. So later I decided to hand over the company to the State Council and myself was concentrated on work for the disabled.

Reporter: You did so not because of pressure from public opinion?

Deng: That's what happened later. Although the company had already been handed over, its title, however, fell upon me, and contradictions were heaped upon me all of a sudden, resulting in misunderstanding of me.

Reporter: How did you look upon these misunderstandings?

Deng: Naturally I was at first a bit anxious. I asked myself these questions: Why should people treat me this way and what mistakes I had made and crime I had committed? Later I became convinced. It's only a matter like this. Black is black and white is white, can that be changed? Besides, I thought I had died once, and all the rest were gained by fate. I've never thought I can live until now. My physical conditions were not good when I started my work, and I suffered from urethral infection once every two months, sometimes once a month. Each time when that came to me I had to go to the hospital for I was running a fever as high as 40 degrees Centigrade. My kidney and my liver did not function well either, I thought I would die at any time. But, unexpectedly, I survived, and now I can even accept your interview, these are all gained by fate.

Reporter: Have you ever talked with your father about these grievances and misunderstandings you suffered?

Deng: No. But I'm sure he wouldn't hope to see such misunderstandings, so I had avoided causing trouble to him. Because he was too important, whatever we did were minor things.

Due to his distinguished contribution to the cause of the disabled, the China Disabled Persons' Federation and Deng Pufang himself were granted a series of awards. On December 10, 2003, Deng Pufang was given that year's United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, thus making him the first Chinese and the first handicapped person in the world to have received the UN human rights prize.

Reporter: How did you look upon the prize you were awarded late last year?

Deng: I took it lightly. It's a good thing. Everybody was happy, I was happy, too. But I was not very much excited. For me, the prize only indicated two things, first, the cause of Chinese disabled persons has got international recognition; second, the international community has paid more attention to the field of the handicapped. I have won quite a number of prizes, a heap actually, all were given by international organizations and the prizes were no small ones. But the present one is given by the UN, so it weighs heavier. That's all.

Reporter: But, as a matter of fact, there would be no CDPF without you.

Deng: You cannot say that. Even without me, the cause of the disabled could all the same go on, the process might be somewhat different. As the globe would not stop turning without any person, so the cause of the handicapped is bound to develop, without me doing it, others will do. I believe the cause of the disabled is actually a link in the country's process of reform and opening up, it doesn't exist alone, without this prerequisite, nothing will come of it, no mater how capable you are, how much humanitarianism you talk about and what desperate efforts you have exerted. Without this background, isn't it ridiculous if you insist on saying what you've achieved in the cause? So, I have long intended to pass on key CDPF posts to younger people, and now I've done that. I've brought up the new generation CDPF cadres and pushed them onto the most important leading posts.

Reporter: How far are you from this goal?

Deng: It's completed in the main. Now I'm neither Party secretary nor president of the CDPF board of directors. I passed them to the youngsters, and now I only keep the post of chairman.

Reporter: Why?

Deng: A person will invariably die someday! A man of poor health like me will definitely die one day although at the moment I do not look like dying. I'm considering the cause of the Chinese disabled persons without the involvement of Deng Pufang. Actually I began making efforts in this respect 10 years ago. This is a matter of paramount importance. How many years can you continue to work and how much energy can you exert however capable you are?

Reporter: Your physical conditions are of much concern to everybody, especially to the handicapped.

Deng: To put this in simple words, I do not look like dying, I'll hold on since I do not look dying! But I'm determined to foster young personnel and create a cause of the handicapped in China without the involvement of Deng Pufang, only by doing so can I be counted as having fulfilled my task.

By People's Daily Online