BEIJING - China has tightened security at the home of purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang in an apparent move to curb visitors and force his family to agree to terms for a funeral, sources close to the family said on Tuesday.

No funeral date has been set because negotiations between the family and the General Office of the party's elite Central Committee have been deadlocked over what funeral honors would be appropriate for the one-time premier who died on Jan. 17 aged 85.

Zhao was sacked and lived under house arrest for almost 16 years after opposing a decision to send in the army to crush the student-led Tiananmen Square demonstrations on June 4, 1989.

"The authorities want Zhao buried as soon as possible," a family friend who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters.

"They have tightened security in the hope that if there are no more visitors, the family will give in and agree to a funeral date," the friend said.

Police outside Zhao's traditional courtyard home in a Beijing alley barely a mile from Tiananmen Square have begun to demand visitors register their identity cards and to limit numbers.

The authorities are eager to bury Zhao, nervous that mourning could turn into protests, especially when the weather warms.

His family has sought consultations to ensure due respect for the deposed party chief and premier.

Zhao was accused of committing "grave mistakes" by splitting the party, but staunchly refused to admit fault.

The party has proposed a scaled-down funeral -- a simplified ceremony to bid farewell to his remains instead of an elaborate memorial service more in keeping with the stature of a man who once led the party and the government, sources have said.

Eulogy Deadlock

Zhao Ziyang (C) talking with Tiananmen Square demonstrators- his “Big Mistake.” (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images)

No official eulogy will be read at the ceremony and an official obituary may not be published in newspapers because the family refused to agree to include wording referring to Zhao's "grave mistakes," a second source said.

"The wording is unacceptable," said the source with ties to the family who asked not to be identified.

The family wants the fact that he spent 15 years under house arrest included in the obituary if it is to say he committed grave mistakes.

Whatever the obituary says, or omits, Zhao's political ghost will haunt a party that has monopolized politics in the world's most populous nation since the 1949 revolution.

Calligraphy on a white mourning banner from Zhao's children hanging on a wall in his study read: "It's our honor to be your sons and daughter. Supporting your decision is our unchanged choice."

The room in his Beijing courtyard home has been turned into a mourning hall for close friends and relatives to pay respects.

The leadership had silenced Zhao and sought to erase him from public memory. They have long feared his death could trigger memories of his stand on Tiananmen Square and spark unrest by disgruntled jobless workers and poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents.

Party liberals and democracy campaigners have urged the government to give Zhao a posthumous rehabilitation. That would seem unlikely with a new generation of leaders still consolidating power and vested interests that could be offended.

The current leadership under party chief Hu Jintao is likely to cling to one-party rule and stick with economic reform while skirting political change.

Newspapers have played down Zhao's death, while state television and radio have ignored his passing altogether. Media coverage of the funeral is likely to be restricted.

The official Xinhua news agency merely referred to Zhao as "comrade" in a terse report the day he died and with no mention of his titles or achievements.

Zhao had introduced market-oriented reforms that helped to transform China into a fledgling economic powerhouse from a centrally controlled backwater.