"I just wanted to come back and have a look. I thought he (She Xianglin) would live a better life after I left," said She's wife Zhang Zaiyu, lying in a bed in a mental hospital in Hubei Province.

"If I had known all the injustices which have happened to She, I would have come back earlier," said Zhang in an interview with the Beijing News. She has suffered from an intermittent mental disorder since 1993.

"I do not want to see him at present. If he cannot adjust himself to the changes, I am willing to comfort him," said Zhang, accompanied by her new husband.

Zhang has talked to She by telephone after returning to her hometown a few days ago and learning what happened to him.

Zhang has written a poem for She, in which she told him to cherish and enjoy his new life.

"I do not hate her at all. I hope she will not blame herself," said She from his hospital bed.

She has some chronic problems in his back and eyes, according to local doctors.

"I think it is unnecessary to see her at present. She has her own life and has a new family. I do not want to disturb her," said She.

"When a prison leader told me Zhang had come back, I was stunned. But I believed that she was still alive because I did not kill her," said She.

Zhang said: "In my memories, I did not have quarrels with She. Our problems were mainly economic difficulties. We seldom talked to each other. I thought he did not care and so I left home."

"I did not know where to go at that time but had to keep going," said Zhang.

She travelled for hundreds of kilometres and finally arrived in Shandong Province. There she met the man who became her new husband, four to five months after leaving her old family.