The family of late Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted from power for sympathizing with Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989, has moved out of their Beijing house that has caught much attention over the past 20 years.

Zhao’s family had emptied the house at No. 6 Fuqiang Hutong before the Tuesday deadline of a relocation order verbally given by Chinese authorities in early April.

Only a bed and several pieces of furniture remained in the former leader’s bedroom, according to a video taken by former Xinhua journalist Tang Shizeng last Saturday.

A friend of Zhao’s daughter Wang Yannan told Apple Daily that the Zhao family had not received any official documentation since April to confirm the relocation order. Despite this, family members had moved most of their belongings away from the house, independent journalist Gao Yu told the newspaper.

The family’s relocation would mark an end to the visits paid by members of the public to the Hutong house in remembrance of Zhao during the anniversaries of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and his death, as well as during traditional grave-tending festivals.

Chinese authorities would typically send large numbers of officers near the house in a bid to bar their visits.

Zhao was ousted from his position as the Chinese Communist Party’s general secretary in June 1989 for opposing the use of troops to suppress democratic protesters at Tiananmen Square. He lived under house arrest in the Hutong until his death in 2005.

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