As Hu Chengji, 67, cycled his way through the sparsely populated Sichuan-Tibet route, he always murmured, "be careful, we will cross the mountain and the river," which stirred speculations that he was insane.

Hu Chengji, 67, poses for a photo during his national tour with the ashes of his beloved wife Xian Hou in this undated photo. [Hu Chengji]

At first glance, some may have thought Hu was traveling alone, but in fact he had a very special companion with him. On his journey he carried the ashes of his beloved late wife. July 31 marks the anniversary of her death 13 years ago. The Chongqing Evening News spoke with Hu about his incredible promise that he kept to his wife over a decade ago on August 1.

They promised that they would tour throughout the country when she was alive, but she died before they could keep their promise. Starting in August 1993 - one month after his wife passed away - Hu traveled by bicycle with her ashes, in an attempt to keep his promise to her.

According to the paper, Hu cycled to 29 provinces, cities and Autonomous Regions except Fujian, Anhui and Jiangxi in more than two years.

Hu placed his wife's ashes in a cemetery in 1998 two years after finishing his tour in 1996.

"We got married in 1962. After I retired in 1991, I made a promise that I would take her to the outside world after I worked part time for five years and made some money to finance it and after our grandson was older," Hu told the paper, adding that his wife and he were both workers and his wife had never left Chongqing.

But the report didn't say whether his children give them money or not.

"I found a job with a monthly salary of 300 yuan (US$37.5) at an autocycle parts plant and together with our pension we could save about 500 yuan a month (US$62.5)."

"We always planned to tour outside and the Jiu Zhai Gou, a well known scenic spot, was our first destination. That was where she dreamed of visiting. "

His wife died in an unexpected accident in July 31, 1993, according to the paper.

In order to save some money, he toured by bicycle. He installed a box in front of the bike and put a piece of red cloth containing some of his wife's ashes in the box, according to the paper.

His first destination was the Jiu Zhai Gou.

According to paper, Hu always murmured during his tour, which made others think he was insane.

"Lots of people didn't understand my behavior. Shouldn't I do anything for her just as she did for me? I don't understand why so many people didn't understand me," Hu told the paper.

His tour was full of lift-threatening risks and many problems.

On a rainy night in 1994, his bike's brakes failed when he went down a slope. Just before he hit a passenger bus, he jumped off the bike and held his head in his hands, leaving his arms and hands with multiple wounds.

When he wandered through a section of the Sichuan-Tibet route 4, 000 meters above sea level, his bike's tire exploded and he was short of oxygen and suffered breathing problems, in May 1996.

When he cycled to Guizhou at night, he was almost hit by a truck but swerved away at the last minute. When he got to his feet, he saw a cliff one meter away from where he fell after he lost his balance.

"I thought of giving up on my tour, especially when I was managing my way on the Qinghai-Tibet route facing a shortage of oxygen," Hu says.

"But when I thought of not fulfilling her dream, I became determined to finish my tour," says Hu, adding that otherwise he would be ashamed to meet her when he dies.

A 50-yuan ticket to the Great Wall left him in trouble after he almost used up all his money along the tour in May 1995. In order to take a picture of his wife and him in front of the Wall, something that she had only seen on TV, he asked other visitors to take one photo of himself and another one with him in his wife's clothes, which drew a lot of attention from other visitors. He says his intention was to create a group photo of he and his wife.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Guo Qiang in Beijing at guoqiang@chinadaily.com.cn