Communist Party reformer Hu Yaobang remembered in low-key ceremony
- No official events held to mark 30th anniversary of his death, which sparked the 1989 pro-democracy movement and subsequent military crackdown
- More than 300 people paid their respects at a memorial in Jiangxi province
While there were no official commemorative events for the icon of political reform, whose death sparked the 1989 pro-democracy movement that ended in a military crackdown, the anniversary was marked in a memorial in Gongqingcheng, Jiangxi province.
Well-known scholar Yang Tuan, one of Hu’s supporters who attended the memorial, posted several photos of the ceremony on social media, saying a number of Hu’s relatives and former colleagues attended the event that she described as “brief, low-key, solemn and compassionate”.
“There were no restrictions [imposed by the authorities],” Yang wrote in her message. “Many people have come to pay their respects and the stream of people did not stop even after the event was over.”
While party leaders organised activities to mark the centenary of Hu’s birth in 2015, authorities have maintained tight control over the anniversary of his death since 1989, not wanting to send the signal that the leadership had altered its view that the 1989 movement was a rebellion.