"It's the first time that I meet the 'master of Chinese culture' I admired and it will be the last time, too," said 12-year-old Zhang Jiayi with tears in her eyes.

Accompanied by her mother, Zhang was among thousands of people gathered at memory hall in Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery for the funeral of Ji Xianlin in Beijing yesterday.

Relatives of Ji Xianlin hold portraits of the renowned scholar during his funeral in Beijing, July 19, 2009. [Wang Jing/China Daily]

Ji Xianlin, the renowned Chinese scholar, died of a heart attack at the age of 97 in Beijing on July 11.

Ji's admirers from around China, including university students and staff from Peking University where Ji worked as deputy president, lined up in the humid summer weather to pay final respects to the "national treasure", a title he constantly refused because he said the title was not "truthful" and he was not that great.

Family members, including his son, Ji Cheng, held each other and wept during the emotional service, which started an hour earlier than planned because so many mourners had gathered.

Ji's family also took Ji's two beloved turtles, which he had been raising for years, to the funeral. Ji was said to be an animal lover.

Despite her young age, Zhang had been reading Ji's biography since she was 10 and had become a huge fan of him.

"After I finished reading the book, Ji is more like a friend to me than China's greatest scholar," Zhang said.

Zhang said she was glad she could still communicate with her friend by reading his books. Ji died just days before his 98th birthday.

Just like Zhang, most of the people who came to pay tribute to Ji had never met him, but all of them had read his books covering history, ancient languages and culture.

Some simply wanted to say "thank you" to Ji for inspiring them with his words.

"Ji' death is a great loss to me and to China," said 90-year-old Sun Zhengda, the director of Beijing Institute of Social Science Studies. "I just want to see my old friend for the last time."

Sun used to work with Ji. What impressed him most was Ji's utmost respect for people.

"I don't think anyone could replace him," Sun said.

"Besides being a great scholar, Ji was also a man of integrity, which people should learn from him first," said Shi Haiyun, Ji's nominally adopted daughter.

Ji's body was going to be cremated after the funeral service. His ashes would be buried in three places: Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Wan'an Cemetery, both in Beijing, and Ji's hometown Linqing, Shandong province, according to Ji Cheng.

Over 20 thousand people around the country have paid respects to Ji since a memory hall was set up in Peking University one week ago.