China mourns former premier Zhu Rongji with flags lowered, funeral
Zhu became known for his ardent anti-corruption drive, controversial dismantling of inefficient state-owned firms and integration of China with the global economy.
Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, whose market reforms helped drive China's extraordinary economic rise, has died from illness at the age of 97, state media reported August 12, 2026. (AFP)
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BEIJING — Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji was mourned on Tuesday with lowered flags and social media commemorations, ahead of a funeral for the reforming trailblazer who died last week at 97.
Known for his decisive restructuring of the Chinese economy during a five-year premiership starting in 1998, Zhu has been praised since his Wednesday passing by state news agency Xinhua as "an outstanding proletarian revolutionist (and) statesman".
Flags were lowered at government buildings across Beijing on Tuesday, AFP journalists saw, as well as on Tiananmen Square, the expansive and highly securitised site in the capital city's centre.
A Chinese national flag flies at half-mast to mourn the death of Comrade Zhu Rongji at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 18, 2026. (AFP)
Online, the Tiananmen tribute was the top trending topic on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
"Thank you for everything you have done for this land, we will always remember you," wrote one commenter on Weibo.
Born in 1928 in central China and later ascending the ranks of the party following the 1949 culmination of a revolution led by Mao Zedong, Zhu's political roles included being mayor of Shanghai, followed by national vice premier and premier.
His premiership coincided with the presidency of Jiang Zemin, the gregarious, bespectacled economic reformer who died in 2022.
Zhu became known for his ardent anti-corruption drive, controversial dismantling of inefficient state-owned firms and integration of China with the global economy.
Asked once by a reporter how he'd like to be remembered, Zhu said: "I only hope that after I step down, people across the country will say that 'he was an honest official, not a corrupt one', and I'll be very satisfied with that".