China Cremates Former Premier Whose Death Hovers Over Xi Jinping
SINGAPORE—During his final months as China’s premier, Li Keqiang evoked two grand waterways seen as nurturing Chinese civilization as he tried to reassure citizens about their country’s future. “The Yangtze and Yellow rivers won’t flow backwards," Li said last year, arguing that China would never reverse course on a four-decade policy of opening up its economy. Those words went viral on Chinese social media after Li’s unexpected death of heart failure last week, shared by mourners to subtly rebuke top leader Xi Jinping for seemingly breaching Li’s promise.
Xi and other senior Communist Party officials gathered Thursday morning at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing to pay their final respects to Li, each bowing before the former premier’s body, which was draped with a party flag, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Chinese flags flew at half-staff at major public spaces and government premises across the country in tribute to Li, whose remains were cremated after the ceremony. Li’s death in Shanghai on Oct.
27 at the age of 68, spurred an outpouring of grief—in person and online—that often eulogized the former premier as a reformist voice and invoked his remarks as a veiled criticism of Xi’s autocratic leadership. Li was the Communist Party’s No. 2 official from 2012 to 2022 and served a decade as premier before stepping down in March.
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