Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies

Zhao had not been seen since his appeal to the 1989 protesters
China's former Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang has died, aged 85, family sources say.

He entered a deep coma after suffering multiple strokes, and died at a Beijing hospital at 0701 (2301 GMT) on Monday.

Zhao had been under house arrest since the crushing of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Security has been tightened in the square in recent days, apparently for fear that Zhao's death might spark off new reformist protests.

'Free at last'

The BBC's Louisa Lim in Beijing says Zhao pressed forward with bold economic reforms while in office.

But, she says, he will be more remembered for his political failures. Many see him as a symbol of thwarted political reform and as the conscience of the Chinese leadership for opposing the use of force against the demonstrators in 1989.

For the current government, his legacy is a dangerous one and many fear his death could spark protests from those demanding faster political change, our correspondent adds.

"He passed away peacefully this morning," Zhao's daughter Wang Yannan said in a statement.

"He is free at last."

Zhao's son Liang Fang told the Reuters news agency that "national leaders" visited Mr Zhao in hospital before his death.

It was "not convenient" to reveal their identities, Mr Liang said.

China's government initially issued only a brief statement, confirming Zhao's death.

"Comrade Zhao Ziyang died of illness in a Beijing hospital Monday. He was 85," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Comrade Zhao had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and had been hospitalised for medical treatment for several times.

"His conditions worsened recently, and he passed away Monday after failing to respond to all emergency treatment."

Zhao is understood to have fallen into a coma on Friday after suffering a series of strokes.

Last Tuesday the Chinese authorities said overseas media reports that he had died on 8 January were "totally untrue".

China almost never commented on Zhao, who was expected to succeed Deng Xiaoping as the country's paramount leader, until his removal from office at the height of the Tiananmen protests.

The deaths of other liberal leaders in China have tapped latent public frustration at the country's slow pace of democratic reform.

When former Premier Zhou Enlai died in 1976, and pro-reform party leader Hu Yaobang died in 1989, protesters massed in Tiananmen Square.

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

China urged to review Tiananmen
China is facing calls to reassess its suppression of the 1989 student protests after the death of purged Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang.
Zhao's secretary Bao Tong led the calls, backed by other pro-democracy activists and Taiwan. Japan urged China to move towards democratisation.

There is no official reaction from the Beijing government to Zhao's death on Monday at the age of 85.

Beijing recently stepped up security in Tiananmen Square and around his house.

Zhao had been under house arrest since the crushing of the pro-democracy protests in the square almost 16 years ago.

Correspondents say the authorities fear that Zhao's death might spark off new reformist demonstrations.


Zhao Ziyang symbolised hope for China, and pushed for reform in a country that desperately needs it, and probably still does
Ju-Lee, Kuala Lumpur


The former party leader, who reached the top after urging bold economic reforms, was removed after he opposed using military force against the demonstrators.

He was never again seen in public after 19 May 1989, when he went to Tiananmen Square and made a tearful appeal for demonstrators to leave.

The BBC's Louisa Lim says many will remember him as a symbol of thwarted political reform. But many young people on the streets of Beijing have never heard of him, she adds.

Reform urged

Hours after his death, Zhao's former secretary issued a statement attacking the Chinese authorities.

Mr Bao, who spent seven years in prison and now lives under government surveillance, said Zhao's isolation was a "showcase of shame" for Chinese justice and the Communist Party.


1989 TIANANMEN EVENTS
15 April: Reformist leader Hu Yaobang dies
22 April: Hu's memorial service. Thousands call for faster reforms
13 May: Students begin hunger strike as power struggle grips Communist Party
15 May: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visits China
19 May: Zhao makes tearful appeal to students in Tiananmen Square to leave
20 May: Martial law declared in Beijing
3-4 June: Security forces clear the square, killing hundreds


The party's "attempts to conceal the truth about the past only serve to reveal their weaknesses and their shamelessness", Mr Bao said.

The government of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, urged Beijing to reassess Zhao's role during the 1989 crackdown.

"We urge Beijing to re-examine the history and honestly face the truth at Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989," cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai said.

"We urge the Chinese government to learn from Mr Zhao's tolerance, to push for democratic and political reforms and respect the call for an open and diverse society."

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for China to make "efforts for democratisation".

Funeral dilemma

China's government has issued just a brief statement, confirming Zhao's death. But no comment has been made and the news the official Xinhua news agency carried a message instructing domestic radio and television not to carry the item.

One human rights activist, Frank Lu, says family members told him that Vice Premier Zeng Qinghong had visited Zhao on his deathbed.

That would indicate the close attention the top leadership has been paying to the fate of their former colleague, our Beijing correspondent says.

For the government, the main dilemma now will be what sort of funeral to give the former party leader.

Veteran dissident and democracy activist Ren Wanding called for a public funeral.

"The Chinese government, at the very least, should have an open and public funeral for Zhao Ziyang," said Jiang Peikun, whose 17-year-old son was killed during the 1989 riots.

China almost never commented on Zhao, who had once been expected to succeed Deng Xiaoping as the country's paramount leader. The deaths of other liberal leaders in China have tapped latent public frustration at the country's slow pace of democratic reform.

Protests flared when former Premier Zhou Enlai died in 1976, and pro-reform party leader Hu Yaobang's death in 1989 sparked the Tiananmen Square protests that ended Zhao's political era.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ic/4181491.stm

Published: 2005/01/17 16:28:59 GMT

© BBC MMV

Fort those who can read Chinese...

Sourced BBC Chinese

香港民主派准备纪念赵紫阳
香港民主派人士准备为赵紫阳去世举行悼念活动；他们呼吁香港特区政府不要阻止这样的活动。

香港民主派人士计划今天(17日)在北京驻港代表机构前献花，递交香港市民签名的悼辞，并于本星期五点燃蜡 烛，集会悼念赵紫阳。

如果活动能如期举行，那么香港将可能是中国唯一举行大型悼念赵紫阳活动的地方。

中国政府一直担心，赵紫阳去世可能成为民主改革派举行集会的机会，大批的下岗工人、日益贫困的农村人口等不 满人群也有可能举行抗议。

1989年中国出动军队镇压天安门举行示威游行的学生，激起了香港民主人士的愤慨；随后，他们组建民主运动 组织，要求北京为六四运动正名。

香港支联会主席李卓人表示，他们一定要为赵紫阳举行悼念活动，在香港报纸媒体刊登广告，广告词是“悼念紫阳 ，正名六四”。

李卓人说，他们还准备树立一幢民主墙，让人们在上面书写自己的所思所想。与此同时，香港的其他民主组织也纷 纷表示举行各种悼念活动。

BBC中文网报道
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/chi...00/4181437.stm


© BBC MMV

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

I wonder if the Chinese government will give him a state funeral or what.

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

Hardly, yoMAMA:


China rounds up, beats mourners for deposed leader Zhao: witnesses

Thu Jan 27, 6:40 AM ET World - AFP


BEIJING (AFP) - China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang, witnesses said.

The allegations came as the government intensified security to prevent mourners attending Saturday's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former Communist Party secretary general purged for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement.

At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said.

They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to their clothes, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, said a bystander who took pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas websites.

"A man from Henan province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked like it was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right eye," said the man who requested anonymity.

"An elderly woman from Shandong province was beaten to a point where she couldn't move and a man from Hunan province was also beaten," he said.

Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16 years under house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal," the witness said.

"They said: 'Why are you commemorating him? You're clearly opposing the government. But the petitioners said 'We think differently. We think he's a good person."

Also last week, an estimated 80 to 90 petitioners were rounded up near Zhao's traditional courtyard home in Beijing for trying to get inside to pay respects and express condolences to his family, petitioners said.

"In our petitioners' hostel, all 10 people who went were detained and held from from 9 am to 11 pm," said Bai Shuhua, one of the 10.

"In the police station, they said 'You don't seek leaders who are alive, but insist on seeking dead leaders. How can the dead help you?" Bai said.

One of the petitioners, Liu Hongbo, was punched twice as he yelled "Zhao didn't do anything wrong," Bai said.

Zhao, prime minister and head of the Communist Party for much of the 1980s, died on January 17 at the age of 85.

The authorities fear his death and funeral on Saturday will be a rallying point for dissidents, petitioners and people dissatisfied with the government.

Zhao was purged for opposing the military crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in which hundreds, if not thousands, were killed.

China announced last week it would not hold memorial services for Zhao but only a "farewell activity for the body," which is effectively a funeral.

In China it is common practice for bodies to be cremated rather than buried.

But family members and the government have been in dispute over the official assessment of Zhao, the guest list and where his ashes should be placed.

These issues have yet to be resolved, a family friend told AFP, despite agreement on the date for the funeral.

"The official assessment is still under discussion," said the friend, who asked not to be identified.

Asked which government officials might attend to pay their respects, the friend said: "It is still unclear."

Diplomatic sources told AFP last week that Premier Wen Jiabao paid a secret visit to the man, who used to be his boss, two weeks before he died but there was no word on whether he would attend the funeral.

Wen was famously pictured standing next to Zhao on Tiananmen Square in the last photograph before he was purged and placed under house arrest.

The government labels Zhao a former official who made a "grave mistake" in his handling of the Tiananmen protests, while acknowledging his contributions towards economic reforms in the 1980s.

Zhao's family strongly objects to the words "grave mistake" being included in an official assessment of his legacy.

Such an assessment is normally agreed with the family before the funeral. A negative assessment could jeopardise the careers of the deceased's offspring within the party or the government, although most of Zhao's five children are in private business.

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

those kind of things happen in china?

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

Security tight for Zhao's funeral

Security has been stepped up in China ahead of the planned funeral of purged Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang.
Guards have been placed in the cemetery where the funeral will take place, and police numbers have increased outside Zhao's house and in Tiananmen Square.

The measures highlight Beijing's unease over Zhao, who died earlier this month.

He was ousted in 1989 for opposing the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and officials fear his death could spark fresh reformist protests.

Zhao spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest, and was never again seen in public after 19 May 1989, when he went to Tiananmen Square and made a tearful appeal for the student demonstrators to leave.

Saturday's funeral will be a small affair compared to the lavish events held in the past to celebrate the lives of other former leaders.

The "body farewell ceremony" will take place at 9am (0100 GMT) at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Beijing's main resting place for national heroes.

Strict guest list

Mourners who have visited Zhao's courtyard home since his death have been asked to pick up passes in order to attend the ceremony.

But according to Zhao's family and human rights activists, the Beijing authorities have strictly censored the guest list.


"They're forbidding current government officials from all levels from attending," Zhao's nephew told the French news agency AFP.

Several dissidents, including Zhao's former aide Bao Tong, are thought to be under house arrest to prevent them from going to the funeral.

"There's no way I'm getting out of here," another dissident, Ren Wanding, told the Associated Press from his Beijing home.

When reporters telephoned Ding Zilin, the leader of a group called Tiananmen Mothers - made up of women who lost their children in the 1989 crackdown - loud interference interrupted the call.

"Everyday I tell the plainclothes officers outside my home that I want to go [to the funeral]," Ding Zilin told an AFP reporter before the line was cut.

It is unclear whether state media will mention the ceremony, and foreign reporters have been banned from the event.

There was little media coverage when Zhao died, and state television and radio ignored his passing altogether.

Since his death, many Chinese have found themselves being prevented from publicly remembering their former leader. Several mourners are reported to have been beaten by police.

The only large-scale memorial events have been held outside mainland China.

Disagreements

Zhao died on 17 January, but the funeral ceremony has been delayed by wrangling between his family and the government over how he should be remembered.

According to our correspondent in Beijing, Louisa Lim, the government wants to include a section in the official assessment of his life saying he made "grave mistakes".

But his family have refused to admit he did anything wrong.

The family and the government are also reportedly at odds over the former leader's final resting place.

Zhao's family is said to want his ashes interred in the part of the Babaoshan cemetery reserved for state leaders - but it is not known whether this request will be granted.

Zhao's widow, Liang Boqi, has still not been informed of his death - and will not attend the funeral because of poor health, a family member has said.







Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ic/4215299.stm

Published: 2005/01/28 12:16:58 GMT

© BBC MMV

I guess the most painful thing for me still is the apathy displayed by the young people in China. I understand why they do not care, and I wonder if I were in their position what I would have done. I feel sad for the entire nation of people but a few for losing pride. May be that is the way it has always been...

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

one thing that i'm curious about is this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4...nanmen_afp.jpg

look to his right. it's the young Wen Jiabao. i wonder what his reaction to Zhao's death has been.



6/4/89
never forget.

Re: Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang dies
 

The funny thing is he was pretty hard line about Zhao's funeral arrangements. Also there were other reports stating he is far more left politically than expected.

Restricted farewell to a lost leader

Words of condemnation mar Zhao Ziyang's funeral

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Sunday January 30, 2005
The Observer

Thousands of Chinese mourners paid their last respects to purged Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang yesterday in a tightly controlled memorial ceremony that underlined the government's unease about the most prominent political victim of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
As a result of a dispute between the family and the authorities, no eulogy was read out during the three-hour event at Beijing's Babaoshan cemetery for revolutionary heroes. But after his cremation later in the day, the state-run Xinhua news agency released the official obituary, saying Zhao made 'serious mistakes' in his handling of the political crisis in 1989.

Zhao, who died aged 85 in a Beijing hospital on 17 January, had spent 15 years under house arrest. He was purged from the leadership after a failed attempt to halt the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen demonstrators.

His last public appearance was a tearful plea to the students to give up their hunger strike. 'I have come too late,' he said. Soon after, martial law was declared, People's Liberation Army tanks rolled into the square and hundreds, possibly thousands, of protesters were slaughtered.

In death as in life, Zhao was treated as a threat to the authority of the Communist Party. The domestic media - completely state-controlled - gave no advance notice of the memorial service, although he was one of the most important Chinese political figures of the last century.

The family requested an open service to allow the pub lic to mourn their lost leader but access to the ceremony was heavily restricted.

According to human rights groups, among those excluded were Jiang Yanyong, the doctor who exposed the government's cover-up over Sars, and Wang Lingyun, the mother of Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the student protesters.

But 2,000 people were reportedly allowed into the ceremony. The government was represented by Jia Qinglin, a member of the party's standing committee. Zhao's body was placed on a bier, dressed in a blue, high-collared Chinese jacket and covered with the Communist Party flag. Mourners filed past, bowing three times and shaking hands with Zhao's five children. Many, including some of the police, were in tears.

The official assessment of the former Prime Minister and party general secretary was tougher. Xinhua credited 'Comrade Zhao' for his influential role in the launching of economic reforms, but condemned him for his response to the Tiananmen protests.

'In the early years of China's reform and opening-up drive, he successively held important leading positions of the CPC central committee and the state, making contribution to the cause of the party and the people,' said the official obituary. 'In the political turbulence which took place in 1989, Comrade Zhao committed serious mistakes.'

The family have had to take the ashes back to the house where Zhao was imprisoned for 15 years, because the government refused to let his remains be placed in the Babaoshan Number One room for national leaders.

The past two weeks have shown that detentions and news blackouts are frighteningly effective in ensuring that a public - now more focused on economic growth than politics - paid little heed to the demise of the man once deemed to have been the best hope for political reform.

Foreign governments and business people, who are increasingly dependent on Chinese trade, have been complicit. Europe is about to lift the arms embargo on China imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

Bill Gates complimented Beijing yesterday on its creation of a 'new form of capitalism'. Earlier this month British Foreign Office officials refused to allow this reporter to ask a question at a Beijing press conference for Jack Straw because the topic - Zhao Ziyang - would offend the hosts.