January 23rd is the seventh day since the death of former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. The Chinese government has not yet announced a memorial service, which is conventionally held on the seventh day after death. Zhao’s eldest son Zhao Dajun confirmed for the first time on January 22 that the Zhao family and the government have widely diverging opinions on how to evaluate Zhao’s life. He doesn’t expect a memorial service to be held on January 23. No date has yet been set.

According to an Oriental Daily report, Zhao Dajun said that the entire family wants Zhao Ziyang’s burial to occur as soon as possible. He said, “We don’t necessarily have to come to complete agreement, but our family won’t agree to it if the evaluation is too far off from [my father’s] thoughts before his passing.” Zhao Dajun didn’t answer whether Zhao Ziyang had hoped for the government to redress his stance on the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

An obituary would be read at the memorial service, which would summarize the life of Zhao. The biggest divergence so far has been Zhao’s position to support the student movement prior to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The government insisted that Zhao “supported turmoil and split the of party,” which Zhao’s family vehemently opposes. The lack of a common ground has delayed setting of a date for the memorial service.

The government has also stepped up security around Zhao Ziyang’s former residence in Fuqian Alley, which is temporarily used for a place to offer condolences. At least 40 police and plainclothes police were dispatched. More than ten police cars were parked in the area. All entrances to Fuqian Alley were watched. According to the Associated Press, a relative of Zhao, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent a text message via a cell phone on January 22 saying, “Now there are more checkpoints and more police. All visitors who came to offer condolences were led to a nearby coffee shop and required to register prior to entering the house.”

Some dissidents who came to mourn Zhao’s death were threatened and beaten. A number of scholars and dissidents applied to the government to rally on January 23 from Tsinghua University to Zhao’s residence to show their mourning. The organizers were then monitored by the police and lost their freedom. The rally was denied.

Beijing has yet to announce the arrangement for Zhao’s memorial service. According to the Oriental Daily, sources say that a number of former Chinese government officials, including former chair of the National People’s Congress Qiao Shi, former premier Zhu Rongji and former chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Li Ruihuan, have requested to attend the service.

Wang Zhihua, Zhao’s son-in-law, said that the Zhao family has not received condolences from the national chairman Hu Jintao or premier Wen Jiabao. Only Zeng Qinghong from the Chinese Communist Party Central Office visited Zhao prior to his death. However, Zeng left Beijing on January 22 to visit five countries including Mexico, and will not return to China until February 2.

Wang said he heard about a memorial service and candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on January 21, which was attended by nearly 10,000 people, but he did not know the details. “It’s now quite difficult for us to learn about any outside information,” Wang said.