Zhang Hanzhi | Mao's English tutor, 72

Zhang Hanzhi, 72, an elegant Chinese diplomat who was Mao Tse-tung's English tutor and President Richard M. Nixon's interpreter during his historic 1972 trip to China, died Saturday in Beijing from a lung-related illness, state media reported.

Ms. Zhang was born out of wedlock to a shop assistant and the son of a prominent family. She was adopted by Zhang Shizhao, a well-known lawyer, and later entered the Beijing Foreign Studies University, where she taught.

She met Mao in 1950, and again in 1963 at his 70th birthday party. When he learned that she taught English, he asked to be her student. The pair formed a friendship, and Ms. Zhang would update him on news outside China. The lessons abruptly stopped in 1964 as the devastating Cultural Revolution began taking shape. Ms. Zhang and her family were persecuted, but she said Mao provided protection at times.

In 1971, Ms. Zhang was transferred to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she attended a series of landmark meetings, including the ones with Nixon, when the countries began restoring tattered diplomatic relations. Her funeral will be Friday in Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, an honor given to the Communist Party's elite.

- AP