China: national tribute to the late Jiang Zemin, former Chinese number one
Flags at half mast, sirens and bells: on December 6, a national tribute was paid in China to Jiang Zemin, who died last week at the age of 96.
REUTERS - ALY SONG
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In China, a national tribute was paid on Tuesday to Jiang Zemin, who died last week at the age of 96.
Across the country, three minutes of silence were observed and sirens sounded to commemorate the former Chinese president.
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With our correspondent in Beijing
, Stéphane Lagarde
Air defense sirens sounded at 10 a.m. sharp on Tuesday morning in the Chinese capital as throughout China.
Flags at half mast, three minutes of silence were observed in schools that remained open in Covid times and in public companies.
Trading on Chinese stock exchanges was suspended and a tribute ceremony was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
A memorial meeting for Jiang Zemin, who passed away on Nov. 30 at the age of 96, was held Tuesday morning in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the meeting.
All participants paid a three-minute silent tribute to Jiang.
pic.twitter.com/eKRvW6XSYW
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 6, 2022
“Incalculable loss for the party”
"
We love and remember Comrade Jiang Zemin, because he devoted his life and energy to the Chinese people, fighting for national independence and leading to the country's prosperity ,"
Xi Jinping
told
senior officials.
party and the army, white flower in the buttonhole, standing in front of the huge portrait of the former head of state, surrounded by wreaths of white flowers.
Also white are the large characters on a black background of the banners celebrating the legacy of the “
core third generation of Party leaders and the main founder of the thought of the 'three representations'
”, which brought
China into the WTO
.
“
Comrade Jiang Zemin's death is an incalculable loss ,”
People's Daily
wrote
this morning.
The CCP organ describes
the one who led China from 1993 and 2003
as "a
great Marxist, a great proletarian revolutionary, a proven communist fighter, an outstanding leader of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics
".
He also recalls "
that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, serious political unrest occurred at home and abroad and the development of socialism faced unprecedented difficulties and pressures.
".
Former Chinese President Hu Jintao among those paying tributes to his predecessor Jiang Zemin who recently passed away, as shown on primetime TV news today.
pic.twitter.com/4HkUiuFnXN
— Zichen Wang (@ZichenWanghere) December 5, 2022
“
Complicated situation inside and outside
”
The former secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party was confronted with “
a very complicated situation inside and outside and tested by the serious twists and turns of world socialism ”, underlines the
New China
agency
.
A life in the service of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the troubled times of the "
Beijing Spring
" and the fall of the USSR and a nod to the difficulties of the moment: the confrontation with the United States abroad, the protests in China over
zero-Covid policy
last week and intra-party tensions.
Yesterday Monday, during the burial of the former head of state at the revolutionary cemetery of Babaoshan in Beijing, the figure of his successor
Hu Jintao
returned to the official photo.
He had not been seen since he
walked out of the 20th CCP Congress last month.
But this morning, up to the present, the
image of the funeral
has been reframed around the current head of state.
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Hu Jintao
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