{"id":150216,"date":"2013-01-18T17:45:27","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T01:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=150216"},"modified":"2013-01-18T17:53:59","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T01:53:59","slug":"zhao-ziyang-remembered-tiananmen-general-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/01\/zhao-ziyang-remembered-tiananmen-general-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhao Ziyang Remembered; Tiananmen General Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zhao Ziyang, former Party general secretary and national premier who opposed the use of force against Tiananmen protesters in 1989, was honored by visitors to his former home in Beijing on Thursday, the 8th anniversary of his death<\/strong><\/a>. From the South China Morning Post:<\/p>\n

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Zhao pressed forward with bold political reforms while in office, but he was never seen in public after May 19, 1989, when he made a tearful appeal in Tiananmen Square for pro-democracy demonstrators to leave. He has since become a symbol of thwarted political reform.<\/p>\n

Du Guang , a veteran Central Party School scholar, wept and said Zhao had died while still smeared by false charges and he could never forget him. “Zhao initiated political reform but regrettably everything was terminated after June 4, 1989,” said Du, who helped found a semi-official think tank that analysed reform issues in 1988 but was forced to close after the Tiananmen crackdown.<\/p>\n

People who visited Zhao’s home yesterday bowed in the mourning room, where a large picture of a smiling Zhao was surrounded by dozens of flowers, including ones from his former aide Bao Tong , who is under house arrest in Beijing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some netizens also commemorated Zhao online<\/a>, though searches for his name remained blocked on Sina Weibo, and posts which mentioned him directly were reportedly removed. Many, though, had no idea who he was:<\/p>\n

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Just re-Weibo’d a photo of Zhao Ziyang, 1-17 the anniversary of his death in 2005.Typical of comments was this one: \u5f31\u5f31\u7684\u95ee\u4e00\u4e0b\uff0c\u4ed6\u662f\u8c01\uff1f<\/p>\n

\u2014 David Moser (@david__moser) January 18, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n