President Xi Jinping and China’s leadership pay final tribute to former premier Li Keqiang
- President leads top party and state leaders to pay last respects as flags fly at half mast across the country
- Xi joined by Premier Li Qiang, the Politburo Standing Committee and Vice-President Han Zheng
The ceremony for Li, who was 68, was held at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing on Thursday morning, a week after his body was moved to the capital city following his sudden death from a heart attack in the early hours of last Friday morning in Shanghai.
Li’s body was cremated on Thursday.
Accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, Xi bowed three times in front of Li’s casket, which was covered by a party flag.
He shook hands with Li’s wife, Cheng Hong, a respected university professor, to express deep condolences, according to footage from state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi was followed by Premier Li Qiang and they were joined by the entire Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, as shown in the state media. Vice-President Han Zheng followed.
Former president Hu Jintao, whose working relationship with Li Keqiang dates back to the 1980s when he was Li’s boss at the Communist Youth League, did not attend the farewell ceremony but sent flowers in tribute, state media said.
The nation was shocked by the news and millions of people posted on Chinese social media to commemorate him when the news first broke on Friday morning.
Li served as premier for two terms between 2013 to 2023. He stepped down in March.
He was hailed by the party as “an excellent [party] member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier and an outstanding proletarian revolutionist, statesman and leader of the party and the state”.
The mourning protocol matches that of former premier Li Peng who was of equal rank and died at the age of 90 in 2019.
Flags are flying half mast across China in all government buildings, Chinese embassies overseas, and in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, according to state media.
In Hong Kong, city and national flags flew at half mast at Tamar in Admiralty, Government House in Central, the Hong Kong International Airport and all border crossings. Li, then vice-premier, last visited the city in 2011 where he spoke at the University of Hong Kong and unveiled more than 30 measures to boost the city’s economy.
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According to a source present at the memorial hall at Babaoshan cemetery, Cheng, Li’s wife, sat down briefly from time to time when she appeared unable to support herself. Lower level incumbent and former officials followed the country’s top leaders in paying their respects.
In addition to the state-led ceremony, crowds gathered along the main roads of the cemetery to bid farewell to Li, according to Chinese media outlet Caixin.
Over the past week, thousands have gathered in cities linked to Li’s life and career – including Li’s childhood home in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province, where he was born in July 1955 – to lay flowers and remember him, according to footage on social media platforms.
Masses of yellow and white flowers were also laid in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, where Li spent six years from the late 1990s as the governor and party boss.
Li, a soft-spoken leader who was fondly remembered as “the people’s premier”, stepped down in March after spending a decade in the position.
As China’s first premier with a bachelor’s degree in law and a doctoral degree in economics, both from Peking University, he was a firm advocate for China’s economic reform and letting the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources.
He is remembered by many for his support for the private sector, with his economic thoughts dubbed Likonomics by investment bankers and China watchers.
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The party also published a detailed account of his life on Thursday, that among other things praised him for “effectively responding to external pressures and containment”, a phrase commonly used by Beijing to refer to its competition with Washington and its allies.
It also praised Li for reforming China’s scientific and technological system, another major area of US-China competition, allowing researchers greater independence and stimulating companies’ innovation through a market approach.
The party said Li “resolutely safeguarded” Xi’s position in the party and “firmly upheld” the authority and centralised unified leadership led by Xi.
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Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack
Responding to questions, Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said “several” foreign governments had paid tribute to Li.
Chinese authorities did not advise outlets to turn their websites grey – a measure reserved for deceased presidents.
Additional reporting by Willa Wu
