China restricts public mourning as funeral for former premier Zhu Rongji takes place
Beijing staged a discreet cremation for the former premier while online tributes and an economist’s essay were restricted.
Flags flew at half-mast at government buildings and security vehicles were deployed across central Beijing as China held a low-key funeral for former premier Zhu Rongji, whose cremation took place today.
Zhu, who served as premier from 1998 to 2003 and is widely remembered as a leading economic reformer, died last week at the age of 97 after an illness. Officials staged the ceremony in a discreet manner and — at the time of the cremation — no official footage from the event had been released.
Online tributes restricted
Public discussion about Zhu has been tightly managed online. Some posts commemorating him were limited or removed, including an essay by the economist Zhao Zijian that nostalgically portrayed Zhu’s era as a time when people had clearer horizons. Zhao wrote that "Back then there were no smartphones, short videos and screens full of sellers of anxiety. The sky was blue, life moved slowly and people could say what they really thought." His comments were taken down from WeChat a day after they appeared.
The state praised the deceased leader as "loyal" to the Communist Party, while official outlets described him as a "prominent member of the Chinese Communist Party" and "tested and loyal communist fighter." At the same time, authorities appear wary that widespread public mourning for Zhu’s reformist legacy could turn into veiled criticism of the current leadership under Xi Jinping.
Chinese officials have in the past been cautious about large public displays of grief for senior figures: the deaths of Zhou Enlai in 1976 and Hu Yaobang in 1989 both triggered mass mourning that escalated into political protest. That history helps explain the muted, tightly controlled tone of the farewell to Zhu.
For now, Beijing’s combination of visible ceremony, stepped-up security and limits on online expression has contained public tributes to a restrained public mourning managed by state institutions.
Photo: press material from the event
