Memorial for China's purged leader
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• Zhao: Symbol of shattered hopes
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 Ousted Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang dies at 85.
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BEIJING, China -- China has held a tightly controlled memorial for former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted amid the upheaval surrounding the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Hundreds of mourners filed through a memorial hall and bowed before Zhao's body at Beijing's Babaoshan Cemetery, the main burial site for revolutionary heroes, on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
The body lay on a bier without a coffin, dressed in a blue, high-collared Chinese jacket and covered in the Communist Party flag.
Anxious to avoid stirring up memories that could spark protests, China's leaders have said little about 85-year-old Zhao since he died on January 17, and did not disclose plans for the memorial service.
The nation's state television on Saturday broadcast the first official obituary for Zhao, recognizing his contribution to reforms, but saying he made "serious mistakes" during the 1989 protests, according to news agencies.
The broadcast is likely to be the first time many Chinese have heard of his death because Zhao's passing kept under wraps. Xinhua only released a two-sentence report of his passing at the time he died.
Just after he died, Beijing warned "anti-government forces" against taking advantage of his death to stir up trouble for the administration. (Full story)
In Washington, House Minority Leader Nany Pelosi, joined a gathering of about 100 people from the Chinese community and human rights groups Saturday to honor Zhao.(Full story)
A standard-bearer for reform, Zhao opposed the use of force against the Tiananmen Square demonstrators. He was removed from his post during the clampdown and was kept under house arrest inside his closely guarded Beijing compound until his death.
He was rarely allowed to step out, except to play occasional rounds of golf. Even out of power in his twilight years, he remained a threat to the leaders who followed him.
There were no eulogies, possibly due to a dispute between the family and government over how Zhao would be remembered, AP reported.
China's number four leader, Jia Qinglin, attended Saturday's memorial and expressed condolences on behalf of President Hu Jintao and other leaders, Xinhua reported.
Mourners on a government-approved guest list were allowed to attend the service, with security agents demanding identification. Hundreds of police and security agents patrolled nearby streets.
Most Chinese will remember Zhao as a well-meaning, honest official, CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime Florcruz Florcruz said, but as someone who was not good at political maneuvering.
"He was a very pragmatic leader, and he was very successful in provincial level market reforms in the early years," said Tang Wenfang, a professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh.
In the late 1980s, when Zhao rose to become China's premier and later party chief, he stood out by pushing political reforms, but he clashed with conservative leaders as students gathered to agitate for freedom and democracy.
He was last seen in public in May 1989, when he visited hunger strikers at the Square.
"We have come too late," he tearfully told the students.
But Zhao may have been too early for his time, political analysts say.
"Hard-line conservative leaders were not ready for market reform, and so there was a lot of ideological resistance to his initiatives, policy initiatives," Tang said.
Zhai Weimin, one of the leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests, said Zhao was "a daring and resolute reformer ... but he was not as good at political maneuvering as the other leaders were."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
