At 1 pm on January 22, a public memorial ceremony for Mr. Zhao Ziyang was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Flushing, NY. The director for the Ceremony Preparation Committee was the former president of the Economic Restructuring Research Institute of the Chinese State Council, Chen Yizi. On behalf of the Preparation Committee, he offered three proposals to the Chinese leaders, the Chinese people, and to all who care about China:

1. The Chinese government must hold a memorial ceremony and give a fair appraisal of Mr. Zhao. Otherwise the Chinese government will be in violation of the concept of humanity, it will lose popular sentiments, and it may be isolated by the international community.

2. Chinese people need to hold memorial ceremonies around the world in order to pressure the Chinese government into clarifying its attitude on this issue.

3. People all over the world who care about the well-being of China should work towards the goal of letting Mr. Zhao obtain the fair appraisal that he deserves.

Chen Yizi was asked by a reporter, “If Mr. Zhao obtains many fair appraisals in the official memorial ceremony next Monday, but if nothing regarding the June 4th Tiananmen student activity is mentioned, what will be the result?” [1]

He answered, “If there is not a fair assessment given during the memorial ceremony, the family of Zhao Ziyang will not close down the mourning hall in their home. Then, we will know that Mr. Zhao’s family members disagree with the official appraisal. They mentioned that their father, suffering from wrongful treatment for 16 years, had never regretted any of his prior actions.“

“Because of this, we need to cooperate with people in the Communist Party who are still with conscience. As far as I know, Wan Li, a former Chairman of the People's National Congress, once angrily called the current Chinese leader a ‘bastard!’ However, a lot of people who are still with conscience and who received benefits from Zhao in the 1980s, or who worked with Zhao, are currently requesting the Chinese Communist Party to give him a fair assessment.”

“Therefore, if there is no fair assessment from the Chinese government, we should keep fighting for it endlessly. However, we will take a peaceful and rational approach. In addition, we hope that the Chinese people will not divide into different groups. Every Chinese person should work together for the dignity of the Chinese people; for human rights and for the freedom of the next generation.”

[1] All quotes are translated by the Epoch Times.