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Daughter of ex-Mao secretary boycotts Communist-led memorial

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BEIJING (AP) — The daughter of a Chinese Communist Party veteran who became a vocal critic of the regime has boycotted her father's funeral.

Li Rui's memorial was held Wednesday morning at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. His daughter Li Nanyang says that was against her father's wishes.

She says her father had three clear desires: to not have a memorial, to not be brought to Babaoshan, and to not be draped with the party flag.

Li Rui joined the party more than a decade before the People's Republic was founded in 1949.

Once Mao Zedong's secretary, he later became critical of the party's policies. In recent years, he opposed President Xi Jinping's strongman rule.

He was 101 years old when he died of organ failure in Beijing last Saturday.