A 30-year bodyguard of Deng Xiaoping on Thursday published a photo album focusing on the casual side of Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Chinese leader.

The album, with a collection of 288 selected pictures from over 4000, shows the less known casual side of Deng from 1978 to 1997. Many of these photos are made public for the first time.

The author, Zhang Baozhong, became Deng's bodyguard in 1954 when he was 20 years old. He spent most of his time at Deng's side except for the several years when Deng was out of his power.

In 1978, Zhang got his first camera, which was sent by Deng's wife as a gift, and he began taking photos of Deng.

The album includes two parts, one shows Deng's inspection tours outside Beijing, while the other portrays his home life as friend, husband, father and grandfather. Besides well-known pictures of swimming and writing, readers can find vivid pictures of Deng's playing cards with his friends and doing physical exercises.

"Thanks to Deng's cooperation, I had many exclusive chances to record his casual life," said Zhang. But he still felt regret that he could not take pictures of Deng at many historic occasions, as he was performing his more important job as Deng's bodyguard.

"Although he has been gone for more than seven years, sometimes he still appears in my dreams," Zhang said, adding that Deng had become his special relative occupying a permanent place in his heart.

Aug. 22 in 2004 is Deng's 100th birth anniversary, and lots of activities have been scheduled to commemorate the Chief Architect of China's reform.