Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ’ｓ Ｒｕｓｓｉａｎ Ｇｒａｎｄｓｏｎ

It was in Moscow and a day in July， 2006. I at last sat down with 53-year-old Aliosha in his apartment. I eyed him curiously and carefully， trying to see the similarity between the Russian rocket engineer and his famous grandfather. Yes， the similarity was there， though somewhat vague. Aliosha was the eldest grandson of Liu Shaoqi (1898-1969)， former Chinese president who died during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). For decades， few Chinese people knew the existence of Liu’s Russian grandson.

I had been in Russia for more than a decade studying and working without knowing the former Chinese top state leader had a Russian grandson. It was not until the summer of 2005 that I met Aliosha and his wife Tonia and， to my astonishment， learned that Aliosha had such a famous grandfather. I said I wanted to write a story about the couple. Tonia said yes， but Aliosha was not sure. Then I was busy and they were busy. A year had elapsed before we finally fixed a day for the interview.

The couple lived in a three-bedroom department on the fourth floor in a department building by a square in downtown Moscow. My first impression of the department was that it badly needed a home improvement project. The floor was covered with lusterless man-made leather carpet， the wallpaper looked somewhat dilapidated， and the furniture suggested a style of faraway years.

We sat down at a round table in the kitchen， which measured about 10 square meters. The couple usually invited their guests to sit in the kitchen for the convenience of serving tea. Aliosha looked serious and reserved.

“Are you this serious all the time， Aliosha?” I asked curiously and a little bit teasingly， trying to break the tension. He became aware of his grave look and smiled. “I can’t help feeling serious when it comes to the subject of my father and grandfather.” I agreed. For him， the subject of his father and grandfather would never be easy.

“Can I take a look at the photos of your father and grandfather you’ve kept?” I asked again.

Aliosha brought the photos. In the photos were his grandfather Liu Shaoqi， his father Liu Yunbin， his aunt Liu Aiqin， his Russian mother Mala， in different places， either alone or in different groups; his grandfather in Moscow where he was visiting with a Chinese party and government delegation; and Aliosha and Tonia visiting relatives in China three years before. One photograph most vividly captured the moment when the grandfather kissed the five-and-half-a-year-old Aliosha. Aliosha remembered the kiss. On that visit， his grandfather also brought him sweets and toys. It was the last meeting between the grandfather and his eldest grandson.

Aliosha’s father Liu Yunbin was the eldest son of Liu Shaoqi and He Baozhen who was arrested and then executed in 1934 by the government. After his mother died， Liu Yunbin was brought back home by an uncle and lived with a relative. In 1938， the 14-year-old Liu Yunbin was brought to Yan’an and in 1939 he and some other children went to the Soviet Union. In 1949 Liu Yunbin met classmate Mala in Moscow University where he was majoring in chemistry. After their graduation with associate doctoral degrees， Liu Yunbin and his wife worked at a research institute. In 1957， Liu Yunbin came back to China at his father’s request and participated in China’s atom bomb project. In 1958， Mala came to China to visit her husband， but she couldn’t get used to the life in China and returned to the Soviet Union with Aliosha and his elder sister Sonia. It was not until 1987 that Aliosha and Sonia learned that their father committed suicide at the age of 42 on November 21， 1967， arguably the coldest days of the Cultural Revolution.

Aliosha said he did not have vivid memories of his father. The knowledge of his father came after Aliosha became of age and especially after his visit to China three years before. He still couldn’t bring himself to believe that his father committed suicide. His sister Sonia remembered more about their father. She even wrote a heart-touching poem in commemoration of their father.

Unlike his father and grandfather who both went through political storms and hardships in their lives， Aliosha has led a peaceful and uneventful life. Like his father， he is brainy and his interest is in science. After graduation from a military college， he was assigned to work at the national space center of the Soviet Union. In order to minimize potential troubles， he never mentioned the names of his grandfather and father in his student and employee files. With this caution， he buried the past and waived favorable treatments that might have come to him， but that also saved him a lot of trouble. In the top-secret space center， he was simply a scientist. He won state medals for his brilliant performance over decades. He was a senior engineer before his retirement from the space center.

According to Aliosha， the Chinese and Russian governments only became aware of the identity of Aliosha as Liu Shaoqi’s grandson in recent years. His Russian grandparents and mother had passed away. He now has few relatives in Russia. In 1998， the Chinese government invited Aliosha to attend the activities in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Liu Shaoqi. But the invitation letter was detained by the Russian military authorities on the grounds that Aliosha had worked in the top-secret agency for over 20 years. He would have to wait for three years after his retirement before he would be allowed to leave the country. After he protested to no avail， Aliosha chose to quit the military and waited for the three years as required. When he at last came to the Chinese embassy in Moscow for visa and identified himself as a grandson of Liu Shaoqi， the Chinese visa official was astonished to learn， for the first time， that Liu Shaoqi had a Russian grandson. The official took the passport to another office and came back after a long while. The official said the identity was verified and confirmed.

In April 2003， Aliosha and his wife flew to China. They stayed a week with Grandma Wang Guangmei and Aunt Liu Aiqin before flying to Nanjing and visiting the tomb of their Chinese Grandmother He Baozhen. Then they visited the home village of Liu Shaoqi in Hunan Province. In Chinese tradition， such a visit to the ancestral place is a double gesture a descendent needs to make to announce his family roots publicly and let his belonging be officially recognized and accepted by the family.

Aliosha told me that they had visited China many times since 2003. He said， “I have two motherlands and I love both China and Russia. I have visited China twice this year and will be seeing my half brother in Guangzhou pretty soon. And at the year end I will probably visit Beijing again.”

Aliosha and Tonia have a daughter and a son. The daughter married a famous Ukraine actor. The son was studying at the Moscow Aviation Institute where Aliosha once studied. Tonia showed me a picture of their son. The young man looked handsome in white suit.

At the end of the interview， I proposed to take some pictures of the couple. They gladly obliged me. Aliosha accompanied me downstairs and the evening breeze touched me. He commented on temperatures in Beijing and Moscow.

I ran into Aliosha and Tonia a week later at the airport and learned that they were about to fly to Guangzhou. Aliosha helped me with luggage. When we were going through the security check， we talked and the subject was still Aliosha’s grandfather and father. When we were saying goodbye， Aliosha showed me his wristwatch， which had a miniature portrait of Liu Shaoqi on it. He explained that the wristwatch was a gift from the Museum of Liu Shaoqi’s Former Residence. He said he would wear it forever.