CLOSE UP PORTRAIT KUO MO JO: LEADERS PAYING LAST RESPECTS TO KUO MO JO'S FAMILY: HUA KUO FENG AND OTHER LEADERS LINING UP TO PAY LAST RESPECTS.




Initials REUTER/JWC



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Background: FLAGS FLEW AT HALF MAST IN TIENANMEN SQUARE AND OTHER POINTS IN PEKING ON SUNDAY (18 JUNE) AS CHINA'S LEADERS PAID TRIBUTE TO KUO MO JO THE COUNTRY'S FOREMOST INTELLECTUAL WHO HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 86. HUA KUO FENG AND OTHER LEADING CHINESE FIGURES GATHERED IN THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE TO PRESENT WREATHS IN MEMORY OF KUO, A GIANT IN MODERN CHINESE LITERATURE. KUO, WHO WAS PRESIDENT OF THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES DIED AFTER A LONG ILLNESS. HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC WRITERS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, AND MADE IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS IN POETRY, FICTION, DRAMA, HISTORY, TRANSLATION, CULTURAL AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA AND ARCHAEOLOGY. THE NEW CHINE NEWS AGENCY SAID THE URN CONTAINING KUO'S ASHES WOULD BE SCATTERED ON THE FIELDS OF TACHAI, CHINA'S MODEL COMMUNE. THIS WAS AT HIS OWN REQUEST.