Mourners visit home of purged party chief

BEIJING -- One by one, the mourners pinned on white flowers and stepped into the Beijing courtyard home where China's purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang lived under house arrest for almost 16 years.

Outside, plainclothes security forces asked some for identification at the entrance to the darkened alleyway, and again on Zhao's doorstep. Not everyone was allowed inside.

So began the funeral rites for the man who was once premier and party general secretary of the world's most populous nation but was ousted in 1989 for opposing the army crackdown on the student-led Tiananmen Square demonstrations for democracy.

Zhao died at 85 in a Beijing hospital on Monday after suffering multiple strokes.

The family elected to forgo a state funeral and chose instead to mark his passing with a less sensitive gathering of relatives, close friends, and others who wished to pay their respects at the Zhao home. Family members expected the slow procession to last several days.

Mourners signed a guest book inside the courtyard compound, entered the study and then, one by one, stepped forward and bowed before a portrait of a silver-haired Zhao, smiling, arms akimbo in a casual blue shirt.

"This was his study. He spent 16 years here. It hasn't changed," Zhao Wujun, Zhao's youngest son, said.

"We stopped the clock at 7:01 a.m.," he said, pointing to the large round wall clock in the study. That was the moment his father died.

Elaborate floral wreaths and calligraphy couplets with messages of condolences overflowed the study where Zhao spent most of his time during his confinement.

"May you go in peace," one message read.

Read another: "You are finally free."

A long strip of white cloth with a message in Chinese calligraphy declared: "Our support for your decision will never change."

Zhao was ousted for sympathizing with student demonstrators and opposing the military crackdown on the Tiananmen protests. He was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when, with tears in his eyes, he urged the students to leave, saying he had come too late and described the aging leadership as old and out of touch.

China declared martial law the next day. The army swept into Beijing and crushed the protests, killing hundreds.

China has insisted the crackdown was the correct decision and reiterated that stance again yesterday.

That longstanding government view explains why the rites at No. 6 Fuqiang Alley stand in such stark contrast to the usual rituals afforded Chinese leaders.

The death of Song Renqiong, a former member of the party's powerful Politburo, was afforded front-page treatment, a photograph, and a commentary. President Hu Jintao later paid respects to Song's family.

But China's leaders are worried that an outpouring of public grief over Zhao's death could spark unrest.

The death in 1976 of populist reformer Zhou Enlai led to an outpouring of grief and protests on Tiananmen Square. The death of reformist party chief Hu Yaobang in April 1989 set off the demonstrations that culminated in the army massacre.

Security has been tight around Tiananmen, the country's political heart, and near Zhao's home.

Even some of the neighbors grumbled that they were not allowed in to pay their respects.