The death of Chen Xitong, the former mayor of Beijing who presided over the 1989 June 4th crackdown and was later jailed for corruption, prompted no official condolences and little public mourning. Chen’s funeral this week was held under strict police watch and stripped of all state honors, Patrick Boehler at South China Morning Post reports:
Instead of Babaoshan, Chen’s funeral was held in Changping, a suburb northwest of the capital, where he began his career in the 1970s. The family’s wishes for the national anthem to be played and the coffin wrapped in the Communist Party’s red hammer and sickle flag were also refused, the source said.
Chen had been stripped of his party membership in 1997. The terse Xinhua statement announcing his death did not refer to him as “comrade” – a title reserved for party members.
[…] Contrary to protocol for former high-ranking officials, no contemporary or current leading representatives of the national or the Beijing municipal leadership attended the funeral.
The source spoke of a heavy police presence at the Changping funeral parlour, with cell phone signals being deactivated and a ban on taking of photos. More than 1,000 onlookers gathered outside the parlour, the source said. [Source]
