Former president Jiang Zemin remembered as ‘key architect’ of growth and reform in Shanghai, the city that shaped him

Residents remember the former president who died on Wednesday as an influential leader that put the city firmly on the path towards economic reform

Jiang graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1947, earning a degree in electrical engineering. He had joined the Communist Party while studying there

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Chinese President Jiang Zemin, pictured in 1997 trying on a new cowboy hat in Calgary, Canada. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:19pm, 1 Dec 2022Updated: 11:22am, 2 Dec 2022

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Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin died in Shanghai, the city that had a profound impact on his life and political career.

Residents of the mainland’s commercial and financial hub, in which he reigned as mayor and Communist Party secretary between 1985 and 1989, remember him as an influential leader that put the city firmly on the path towards opening up and economic reform.

Jiang’s body was sent to Beijing by aeroplane on Thursday, a day after he died from leukaemia and organ failure at the age of 96.

Thousands of residents gathered along Yan’an Road to bid farewell to the hearse carrying him to the Hongqiao International Airport.

“His link with Shanghai is inarguable,” said John Jiang, 37, one of those lining the way. “People of my generation are really the beneficiaries of the opening and reform directed by him.”