The family of deposed Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang (
Zhao was purged and kept under house arrest for 15-and-a-half years until his death for opposing the bloody military crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protesters. But even in death, he was unfree.
PHOTO: AFP
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police guarded the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Saturday, and kept out hundreds of people who turned up to pay their last respects to the man who had been China's premier and Communist Party chief.
Zhao's closest relatives said they had little say in the funeral that the Chinese authorities insisted on organizing and were upset by the government's interference in matters that should normally have been left up to the family.
There was a news blackout ahead of the funeral. The government censored the funeral guest list and blocked people -- including many who were invited by the family -- from attending the funeral.
Bao Tong, Zhao's closest aide, and other dissidents were banned from leaving home to attend the funeral as the government sought to keep the ceremony low-key to prevent it becoming a rallying point for those dissatisfied with the Communist Party.
Elderly protestors and ordinary citizens turned up outside the cemetery, but were turned away. Wearing white headbands, petitioners held pictures of Zhao and cried bitterly for the leader they called "a good man." Family members were not allowed to decorate the funeral hall and were forbidden from putting up traditional calligraphy scrolls of eulogies for the deceased.
"Advocating democracy and conscience, your family is proud of you. You are gone, you are free at last, but your spirit will live on forever," one couplet had said.
A family member said Zhao never regretted his decision to oppose the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement. He was purged for "supporting the turmoil and splitting the party" by taking a sympathetic stance towards the students. His last public appearance was on May 19, 1989, when he tearfully begged students to end their hunger strike.
"He never regretted his choice. He left in peace and he had no regrets," she said. "We were often angry about lots of things on his behalf, but he was always very calm."
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