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China to Cremate Zhu Rongji in Beijing Tuesday

8/16/2026

27 4 Full Breakdown

Summary

Zhu Rongji Cremation

China will cremate former premier Zhu Rongji in Beijing on Tuesday with national flags at half-mast.
Half-mast flags will fly at Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People.
Hong Kong will lower national and regional flags at Admiralty, Government House and the airport.
Macau and Chinese embassies worldwide will observe the half-staff tribute, which called Zhu Rongji China’s “economic tsar” and “iron premier”.

Summary

Zhu Rongji Dies

His death came days before Jiang Zemin’s centenary and the CCP’s fifth plenum, dubbed “superpolitics.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim called him a friend and recalled visits to Confucius’s hometown and receiving Chinese classics.
As dean of Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management, he trained economists and his restructuring left tens of millions of state workers jobless, a cost described as “surgery without anaesthesia.”

History

Historical Context

The Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, held in Beijing 18–22 December 1978, shifted the CCP from Maoist class struggle to market-oriented reform. Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader, adopted the Four Modernizations and replaced Hua Guofeng’s ten-year plan with a modest five-year plan emphasizing light industry. That year GDP rose 12.3 %, launching the reform era still echoed in today’s ceremonies.

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Zhu Rongji Cremation

China will cremate former premier Zhu Rongji in Beijing on Tuesday with national flags at half-mast.
Half-mast flags will fly at Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People.
Hong Kong will lower national and regional flags at Admiralty, Government House and the airport.
Macau and Chinese embassies worldwide will observe the half-staff tribute, which called Zhu Rongji China’s “economic tsar” and “iron premier”.

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