Mourners flocked to a traditional house in a quiet alleyway near Beijing's downtown area of Wangfujing yesterday to pay respects to purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang on the seventh anniversary of his death.
People also used Twitter and Chinese weibo sites to post online tributes to the reformer, who was ousted in the aftermath of the crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests in 1989.
This year, with a leadership reshuffle planned for autumn, people seem more keen than ever to remember Zhao as frustration grows after almost a decade during which there has been little to no political reform.
Crowds that arrived at No 6 Fuqiang Hutong to pay tribute appeared larger than in previous years, said Zhao's son-in-law, Wang Zhihua. 'It's related to the current situation, as people seem to see the country moving backwards, rather than forwards as they'd hoped,' Wang said.
Yao Jianfu, a retired official and research fellow with the State Council's Research Centre for Rural Development, who visited Zhao's house yesterday, said people hoped that leaders would after the reshuffle learn from the example of reform pursued by Zhao and Hu Yaobang, a former party chairman and Zhao's predecessor.
In the mourning room hung a large picture of a smiling Zhao, surrounded by dozens of flowers, mostly chrysanthemums. A pair of vertical banners on a side wall read: 'It's our life-long honour to be your children, and we will forever support the decision you made.'
A Peking University student who visited the home but declined to be named said: 'Authorities deliberately covered up the real history, but I still had access to the information by getting around the 'Great Firewall'.