About 60 percent of those visitors are from Hong Kong, while 20 percent are from the US and 10 percent are from China, Gao said.
Word spread quickly, as well, about Saturday's memorial, both through the Chinese-language news media in New York and the Internet.
And despite the snowstorm blanketing the city, the service attracted a standing-room-only crowd.
Sometimes, tensions flared. At one point, a woman who was trying to tell the mourners to take their seats confronted a man who she thought was an agent of the Chinese government sent to report on the proceedings.
"I know you are with the public security bureau! I can tell!" she said.
With the exception of Councilman John Liu of Queens, who made his remarks in English, the tributes were in Mandarin and often referred to the Tiananmen uprising.
And most of the speakers were older intellectuals like Yan Jiaqi and Chen Yizi, who either were advisers to Zhao or have long been associated with the democracy movement.
But there were also a few who said that they were from Taiwan, and admired Zhao, too.
For all the statements made during the service, and at a news conference afterwards, perhaps the most eloquent tribute to Zhao was on display at the front of the room.
Garlands of flowers draped a black-and-white photo of Zhao.
Next to the portrait was a simple Chinese idiom, Gao feng liang jie, which is used to describe an exemplary person who is believed to be noble, decent and principled, an aphorism that Chen, an economist, repeated in his remarks.
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