This Day, That Year

Item from Feb 16, 1989, in China Daily: Mourners line up to pay homage to the 10th Panchen Lama during the memorial service yesterday in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing ... Zhao Ziyang and Li Peng were among more than 1,000 mourners at yesterday's memorial service ... The Panchen Lama was a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and a top religious leader of Tibet. He died of a sudden heart attack on Jan 28 at the age of 51 in Xigaze, Tibet, where he had just presided over the opening of the Great Stupa.

The 11th Panchen Erdeni Gyantsen Norpo, a spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, has been a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 2013.

The above photo on the right shows the 25-year-old preparing to cast a vote to elect the chairman, vice-chairman, secretary-general and Standing Committee members of the CPPCC at the annual session of the top political advisory body on March 11, 2013.