Zhao’s Funeral. Anger, Masses or Calm?

The
memorial service for the former Chinese Communist Party General
Secretary Zhao Ziyang is being held at this moment in Babaoshan
Revolutionary Cemetery. According to a report by the Chinese-language
version of The Epoch Times, informed sources inside China
confirmed that at 9 a.m. Beijing time on January 29, ae crowd of about
10,000 people was gathering in front of the main gate to the Babaoshan
Revolutionary Cemetery.

The sources said a great number of college
students were confined in the subway and prevented from joining the
group. Several hundred police and an unknown number of plainclothes
police were trying to drive the public away from the approaches to the
cemetery. Photographers from dozens of domestic and foreign television
stations were also driven away. Police occasionally clashed with the
masses.

At 9 a.m., the mourners and the reporters were being
constantly pushed back to more than 50 meters from the gate. One
reporter who was preparing to take photos of the scene was encircled by
more than 20 policemen and asked to produce his identification.

In front of the main gate of the cemetery, reporters from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post
and others gathered. At 9:05, a foreign reporter’s camera was seized by
police and he was forced outside the crowd. At 9:12, the crowd was in a
bit of turmoil as police were driving a British photographer away; some
foreign reporters were beaten by police. Some other foreign reporters
were working on laptops and speaking into microphones for live
coverage. At 9:15, two additional truckloads of police arrived. More
and more people were driven to the outside of the crowd. Police took
away posters with images of Zhao displayed by mourners. Some foreign
reporters were able to photograph the scene. At 9:35, a mourner said
that people were pushed more than 300 meters from the main gate.

The crowd continued to grow as the memorial service continued.

——————–

Former Chinese Communist Party Leader Zhao Laid to Rest in Beijing

By  Luis Ramirez Beijing 29 January 2005

Ramirez report – Download 384k


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Woman cries as she holds up a picture of Zhao Ziyang outside  Babaoshan cemetery in China

China
has held funeral services for purged Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang
nearly two weeks after his death. Mr. Zhao spent 15 years under house
arrest for advocating reform during the 1989 Tiananmen Square
pro-democracy demonstrations. Officials again used the day to criticize
Mr. Zhao.

Police shooed away onlookers who braved the subfreezing temperatures
outside Beijing’s Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery hoping to pay
tribute to the late reformer Zhao Ziyang before his cremation
Saturday.  Security was tight because officials fear his death on
January 17 might spark anti-government protests.

One group of onlookers challenged police as agents tried to push
them away from the cemetery entrance.  Onlookers questioned why they
could not pay tribute.

Mr. Zhao was purged as party leader in 1989 for sympathizing with
pro-democracy activists who led an ill-fated protest at Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square.

Officials feared Zhao Ziyang’s death might have triggered protests
much in the same way that the death of another reformist leader, Hu
Yaobang, triggered the Tiananmen protests in 1989.

The government had imposed a blackout on news of Mr. Zhao’s death
and only released his official obituary Saturday. In it, Mr. Zhao was
praised for helping economic reforms, but criticized for so-called
"serious mistakes" during the 1989 protests.   

Saturday’s cremation and ceremony were modest in a country where
high-ranking Communist Party officials are normally given elaborate
state funerals. The only people invited to view the flag-draped coffin
had been carefully screened by the party.

Those not allowed to pay their respects complained of efforts to suppress Mr. Zhao’s importance to China. 

One such mourner, standing outside the cemetery, criticized the government’s handling of this.

He said that people are not allowed to express their feelings and he
thanks foreign news sources for providing information not available
from state-sponsored media.

Aside from a few angry scenes and minor scuffles outside the
cemetery, there were no signs of the protests the government feared.
Many young people polled on the streets of Beijing say they have no
idea who Zhao Ziyang was.

Perry Link, professor of Asian Studies at Princeton University in
the United States, says the decision by President Hu Jintao’s
administration to keep quiet on the passing of Mr. Zhao is an example
of the Communist Party’s strategy of finding ways to make younger
people forget what happened in the previous generation.

"The new young generation doesn’t know and you can’t blame them for
that,” he said.  “They don’t know because the news is repressed,
because history is distorted by the party, who of course is concerned
about preserving their own power.  That’s happened and happened
again." 

Analysts say it is easier for the leadership to take the focus off
sensitive political issues, because the economy is booming and people
are focused on raising living standards. Some also say the fact that
Mr. Zhao spent his last 15 years under house arrest and out of public
view was enough to make many forget his role in China’s history.