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Hundreds file past body of China's ousted Zhao
2005-01-28
BEIJING - Hundreds of mourners filed past the body of deposed Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang at a low-key funeral held under tight security on Saturday for fear of protests, witnesses said.The mourners, many weeping, bowed three times before Zhao's body, lying on a platform and shrouded in a party flag, and shook hands with family members, they said. A banner in Chinese characters above the body read: "Ceremony to bid farewell to Comrade Zhao Ziyang's remains." It was not immediately known if any senior party leaders attended. However, displayed in the hall were flowers sent by several retired senior leaders and contemporaries of Zhao. The flowers 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. Zhao was purged for opposing the army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for democracy. Family members wore black mourning dress with black armbands as funeral music played and each visitor was given a photograph of Zhao. His ailing widow, Liang Boqi, was not present. Nervous that mourning could turn to protest, the authorities have been eager to hold a quick funeral for Zhao, who as premier in the 1980s introduced the market reforms that transformed China from a centrally planned backwater into a fledgling economic powerhouse. Mourners were barred from taking photos or filming the proceedings. Zhao's successors in the leadership, who had kept him under house arrest for more than 15 years to try to erase him from public memory, feared his death would evoke memories of the Tiananmen massacre and spark unrest by disgruntled jobless workers and poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents. Reuters
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