A continuous stream of people for three days packed the mourning hall of former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who died last week of heart failure. Sobbing people lined up at his Beijing residence in Fuqiang alley to visit the hall filled with hanging flower baskets, colored signs and farewell notes.

A photograph of an aging but radiantly smiling Zhao Ziyang hanged in the hall with a flowered sign. The elegantly written words “Lead towards democracy, persevere the conscience, your children are so proud of you; now going to the end to attain the ultimate freedom, your character left in the world forever” was clearly posted for visitors to view.

An elegiac note reading “You go with relief” from his wife, Liang Boqi, was place under the photograph as well as a note from his sons and daughter reading, “Dear Daddy, we thank you.” The grandchildren also expressed their fond memory by writing, “We want to be just like you.”

Of the countless colored signs, the most eye-catching dedication was by former Vice Committee Chief of the Chinese Communist Party National People's Congress Tian Jiyun and his wife Li Yinghua. Known to have a forthright personality and not afraid to show emotions, Tian Jiyun has throughout the years gained the people’s respect. Zhao’s political secretary, Bao Tong, sentenced to jail for seven years after the “Tiananmen Square” debacle, was not allowed to attend but a note from him saying, “Ziyang Eternity” was prominently placed for everyone to read.

Zhao’s daughter Wang Yannan said the people who came to express condolences were not associated with the government. "A lot of people that we were not acquainted with before such as neighbors and just ordinary residents were very affected by his death," she said. One elegantly written elegiac couplet read, "To the sky, to the ground, to the common people, you made your efforts; look at the present, look at afterwards, who will be beyond you."

The official Wen Tianxian’s poem from the Song Dynasty reading, "Who would not die since the beginning, left the loyal heart for history” was posted outside the mourning hall.

Although large number of public figures were strictly monitored by the Chinese government and forbidden to attend, Ma Shaofang, a member of China’s ‘89 democratic movement and who once had a warrant for her arrest, managed to get to the mourning hall. Ma Shaofang said, "China’s history cannot bypass this person.”

According to a report from, Human Rights in China, on the morning of 18th, over 450 people in Beijing who are currently appealing to the government, collected money among each other and bought a wealth. Wearing a small white flower and carrying a banner reading "Mourn our good Premier" they went to Zhao Ziyang’s house in Fuqiang alley but were intercepted by approximately a hundred policemen and undercover detectives. They were only allowed to place the wreath at the entrance of Fuqiang alley. Additional police units were placed nearby the appeal-for-help village.