The little old man who lives in the house behind high walls just north of the Forbidden City has not been seen in public for eight months.
But his two daughters and his formidable chief of staff, Gen. Wang Ruilin, assure the world that Deng Xiaoping is well and vigilant. Rumors of surgery and terminal afflictions are groundless, they say.On Sunday Deng celebrates his 89th birthday after a year in which his "theories" were enshrined as party policy, superseding Mao Tsetung's "thoughts."
Dengism has transformed the world's most populous nation from a xenophobic backwater into an economic powerhouse.
Still, the birthday preparations have been marred by ever more insistent rumors that the patriarch soon will meet Marx - Deng's euphemism for his own death.
At dusk, when the cicadas chirp in the maple trees outside the house, the odd black government limousine draws up to the gate and polite inquiries are made. No one recently has seen the old man in the inner sanctum of the courtyard complex.
From time to time fragments of information emerge, tossed over the wall by daughters Deng Rong and Deng Nan. The two say they have become "the eyes and ears" of their father.
As usual the birthday celebration will be a quiet family affair. But this year, Deng's loyal entourage has made certain that the nation is inundated with an unprecedented number of newly printed and reprinted tomes expounding their leader's theories.
These are to ensure the old man's spirit outlives the demise of his body.
In his last appearance, Deng could barely walk. He had a bad fall in Shanghai, blamed on a stroke. His hands shook uncontrollably, giving credence to rumors he has Parkinson's disease.
"He looked as if he could go anytime," said a Western doctor who watched Deng's last appearance on television. "But I don't think it's any particular disease, it may be just old age."
Last month Japan's media reported that the patriarch had surgery for testicular cancer. Officials labeled the report "totally groundless" rather than "a totally fabricated rumor," which might indicate Deng had some kind of operation.
Although Deng retired from his last official posts in 1990, the world's most powerful pensioner and his brood continue to guide the nation from the old-fashioned residential complex.
A longtime smoker of Panda cigarettes, Deng is said to have survived throat cancer.
Insiders say this is why he mutters in hoarse grunts, sounds his daughters translate into edicts that can change the fate of a fifth of mankind at any moment or purge those reluctant to "go faster."
His daughters also shout replies or questions into his left ear, which is said to be less deaf than his right ear.
Each time Deng is rumored on his deathbed, the stock exchange in Hong Kong takes a nose dive, the dollar skyrockets on the black market and an uneasy tension descends on the capital.
"He must stay alive," said an elderly state official. "The country needs stability and no successor has emerged."