China Imposes Security for Funeral of Purged Zhao ——From Reuters

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of mourners braved police checks on Saturday to attend a low-key invitation-only funeral for Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese Communist Party chief purged for opposing the army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen protests.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of mourners braved police checks on Saturday to attend a low-key invitation-only funeral for Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese Communist Party chief purged for opposing the army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen protests.

Nervous the ceremony might spark protest, China’s leaders had wanted to permit only a quick funeral for Zhao who, as premier in the 1980s, launched market reforms that turned the country into a fledgling economic powerhouse from a centrally planned backwater.

However, in a nod to the seniority of a man whom the party had effectively made a non-person by keeping him under house arrest for the past 15 years, China’s number four leader, Jia Qinglin, joined mourners filing past his body at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.

A dozen police checked identity documents and invitations of mourners and turned away non-mainland Chinese from the funeral for Zhao, who died in a Beijing hospital on Jan. 17 aged 85.

“My heart is heavy. I did not expect so many people to show up,” said mourner Shi Yijun, an author on party history.

Weeping mourners bowed three times before the body, which lay on a dais shrouded in a Communist Party flag. They shook hands with family members clad in black mourning dress as funeral music played. His ailing widow, Liang Boqi, was not present.

A banner in Chinese characters above the body read: “Ceremony to bid farewell to Comrade Zhao Ziyang’s remains.” Photographs were banned at the ceremony, which took place without the fanfare normally accorded a top leader.

In a rare omission that reflected possible differences between the family and the party on how to assess Zhao’s role in Chinese history, no eulogy was read.

However, the Xinhua news agency issued the first official commentary on the fallen leader in 15 years, recognizing his “valuable contributions” to economic reforms but saying he made “serious” mistakes in handling the Tiananmen protests.

The report was read on China Central Television, the first time state television had reported Zhao’s death.

“In the political turbulence which took place in the late spring and early summer of 1989, Comrade Zhao committed serious mistakes,” Xinhua said without elaborating.

Zhao was fired after being accused of splitting the party by challenging paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s decision to send in troops to crush the Tiananmen protests. Hundreds were killed.

The nervousness of the leadership to avert protests was underscored by the posting of police vans at every corner of the main Changan Avenue that bisects the capital.

HISTORY UNFAIR

Petitioners in traditional white mourning headbands wailed and unfurled a banner outside the cemetery reading “Ziyang’s spirit will live forever.” They were dispersed by police.

“He was our good general secretary,” said one. “We don’t even have the right to mourn him. Where are China’s human rights?”

Zhao was later cremated, but his family has not decided on a final resting place for his ashes.

Premier Wen Jiabao, one-time aide to Zhao, did not attend. But some retired senior leaders and contemporaries sent flowers.

Another aide, Bao Tong, the most senior official jailed for the Tiananmen protests, was allowed to pay his respects to Zhao’s remains in private at the Beijing Hospital, a family member said.

Floral arrangements were sent by former parliament chief Qiao Shi, former vice chairman of parliament Tian Jiyun and Yang Baibing, a People’s Liberation Army general and younger brother of the late Yang Shangkun, president during the 1989 crackdown.

Several mourners brandished Zhao’s photo as they left.

Zhao’s successors have long feared his death would evoke memories of the crackdown and spark unrest by disgruntled jobless workers and poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents.

The funeral took place on a day when public attention was focused on the first non-stop flights in 55 years between China and its political adversary, Taiwan. That event, unlike Zhao’s funeral, was covered live on Chinese television.

Official newspapers have made only brief mention of the death of the man the Communist Party tried to erase from history.

Zhao’s political ghost haunts the party, which has monopolised power since the 1949 revolution and now grapples with problems,from rampant corruption to a widening wealth gap.

Democracy campaigners, liberal intellectuals with no history of activism and bereaved relatives of Tiananmen victims were barred from leaving their homes to pay their respects.

“I may light a candle in the evening,” said Jiang Qisheng, a student negotiator jailed for years for his role in 1989.

The funeral was delayed for days with Zhao’s family and the party deadlocked over what honors would be appropriate for a man who once led the party and government. (Additional reporting by John Ruwitch)