ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEIJING
SOURCE: The Washington Post
Deng Xiaoping, who rose from rural Sichuan Province to the pinnacle of power for a quarter of the world's population, was cremated Monday after the country's top leaders paid him traditional homage at the military hospital where his body had lain since his death last Wednesday.
As authorities prepared for a tightly controlled memorial service Tuesday with 10,000 invited guests at the Great Hall of the People, Chinese state television showed Deng's family members and the new leadership filing by Deng's body. The leaders then bowed as a group before the body three times in the traditional manner.
The body - its puffy face disfigured by disease and death - lay on an open bier surrounded by flowers and covered with a giant Chinese flag. Members of Deng's family - who along with officials wore black armbands and white paper flowers signifying mourning - wept profusely at the hospital and later in a hall at the cemetery's crematorium, with one daughter crying out that ``grandfather hasn't died,'' and another approaching to kiss his face in farewell.
In front of the body at the hospital was a bouquet presented by his widow, Zhuo Lin, and their five children, with a silk streamer that said: ``We will love you forever.'' There also were bouquets with streamers from each of the seven Communist Party Standing Committee members with the words: ``Profoundly grieve respected and beloved comrade Deng Xiaoping.''
Deng's handpicked successor, Jiang Zemin, the president and Communist Party chief, shook hands with the family but did not offer any remarks.
Afterward, Deng's body was placed in a crystal sarcophagus and carried by high-stepping soldiers to a white van that bore him to Babaoshan cemetery in western Beijing in a 40-car procession which state-run television said was witnessed by 100,000 people. Other witnesses put the crowd at a fraction of that number.
At the cemetery, the official funeral party once again bowed before Deng's body. The bowing contravened the Deng family's expressed wishes but appeared to represent a need by Jiang and other leaders to show respect for the man who had dominated Chinese politics for a generation and who had been their political patron.
The spectators, many bused in from the nearby state-owned Capitol Iron & Steel Works, stood along the 11/2-mile-route from the military hospital to Babaoshan. Policemen lined the route, standing about six feet apart, to prevent disturbances.
``Scatter Hot Tears for Comrade Xiaoping,'' read a banner with black characters that was held up by a group of people outside the military hospital. ``Go gently, Xiaoping,'' read another.
Outward demonstrations of mourning have been suppressed, especially in Tiananmen Square, where the laying of wreaths after the deaths of Premier Zhou Enlai in 1976 and Hu Yaobang in 1989 became catalysts for protests.
The government announced that martial law will be in effect for Tiananmen Square during Tuesday's memorial service, where Jiang will deliver a eulogy.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB