The deaths of Chinese Communist leaders are always tense moments on the political stage, and especially now with the passing of Jiang Zemin right after one wave of public defiance on a scale not seen since Jiang came to power in 1989.
China’s strict autocratic current leader, Xi Jinping, must preside over the funeral for Mr. Jiang, who died Wednesday at the age of 96, while he also grapples with widespread protests against China’s particularly strict Covid-19 restrictions. Protests have also sometimes boldly called for China to return to a path of political liberalization that seems at least conceivable, perhaps even openly discussed, under Jiang for years. 1990.
How Xi orchestrates that feat — paying tribute to Jiang while preventing him from becoming a symbolic baton against Xi’s politics — will be challenging. different for him in the coming weeks, as China tries to manage coronavirus cases increase and economic recession.
Lynette H. Ong, a political scientist at the University of Toronto who studies China, said: “The way they mourned his death was likely to provoke further anger, despite Jiang Ze’s The people have never been as popular with the people as Hu Yaobang.” died in 1989 spark the Tiananmen protests. “At the very least, it will give people a good reason to gather and mourn.”
Almost immediately, the announcement of Mr. Jiang’s passing prompted a flurry of online tributes from the Chinese people. Quite a few people have made vague, often ironic comparisons between Mr. Jiang and Mr. Xi, who authoritarian policy brought censorship and ideological control to a new level.
A commenter on Weibo, a social media service in China, recalls when Mr. Jiang in 1998 used loudspeakers Call for rescue force to prevent flood break. The commentary said Chinese society at the time was “progressing vigorously, spirits up, singing as we enter a new era.”
Many other comments didn’t quite work. As a leader, Mr. Jiang can be irritable and repressive when his political survival requires it, including against followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. He is also known for his high opinion of himself and his equally high-waisted pants.
But Chinese people find more reason to think more about Jiang’s time in senior central office from 1989 to 2004, as China transitioned from a post-Tiananmen political freeze. to dizzying, sometimes reckless and polluting growth over many years. The party tightly controls political life, but allows human rights lawyers, trade news agencies, belligerent dissidents and liberal academics to participate in the debates. public opinion — a bit of freedom that doesn’t exist today.
“Toad, I wrongly blamed you before; you are the ceiling, not the floor,” one commenter said, citing a popular nickname for Mr. Jiang, based on his squat figure and large glasses.
Another comment recalls 1997, when Chinese audiences were allowed to enjoy Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a movie whose story was relatively risky at the time in China. “Goodbye,” said a popular comment marking Jiang’s death, “Thanks for showing us all that year Titanic.”
Hours after his death, Weibo censors quickly moved to restrict commenting on the news, ostensibly to prevent relatively innocuous nostalgia from turning into harsh criticisms of him. Xi and the party, especially after days of political turmoil. Comments on “Titanic” have been deleted after attracting tens of thousands of likes.
Geremie R. Barmé, a Chinese scholar in New Zealand said: “When he died, Hu Yaobang became a heroic martyr, while in life he did not enjoy that reputation at all. “In today’s smoke of nostalgia, the same thing could happen to Jiang Zemin.”
On weekends, protesters in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and other Chinese cities gathered in hundreds, thousands to denounce strict, intrusive, and burdensome policies aimed at stamping out coronavirus cases. Some who seized the opportunity also called for democratic change, a free press, an end to rampant censorship and even the removal of Mr. Xi and the Communist Party.
The defiance had some distant resonance with the 1989 movement, when the death of Hu Yaobang, a reformist leader who had been ousted from power, sparked student protests. Officers occupied Tiananmen Square until an armed crackdown spread to the square on June 4. The deaths of other Chinese leaders also became occasions for protests and dissent, notably Zhou Enlai in 1976.
Mr. Xi could use Jiang’s mourning rituals to try to “recover from the isolated situation,” Zhang Lifan, a historian in Beijing, said in the text in response to questions about what he said. Mr. Jiang’s death.
“Whether this will be deliverance from the June 4 nightmare or bring it back, we just have to wait and see,” Mr. Zhang said.
But any repeat of 1989 seems highly unlikely under Xi’s dense security net, said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation that specializes in analysis of the Chinese Communist Party. , suggestions. “The death of Jiang Zemin will not cause ripples in Chinese politics,” he said.
Even so, Mr. Xi must arrange funeral events to ensure that it stays that way. In announcing Jiang’s death, the party honored his achievements, especially in promoting economic changes and modernizing the Chinese military. It also called on the whole country to rally around Mr. Xi.
One Announcement of funeral arrangements because Mr. Giang had indicated that a memorial service would be held and that — as is party practice — international leaders would not be invited.
If the death of China’s former great leaders like Deng Xiaoping is the guideMr. Xi was also able to preside over the ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, which brought together thousands of officials, dignitaries and possibly Jiang’s family members. But concerns about the spread of the coronavirus may limit the guest list this time around.
However, no matter how small the ceremony, there will be a conundrum as to whether and how to include Hu Jintao, China’s top leader in the decade between Mr. and Mr. Xi. Mr. Hu’s the name is already on a long list of retired officials and officials who will oversee arrangements for funeral activities.
But Mr. Ho, notoriously suppressed while in power, caused rare concussion during a party congress in October interrupted Xi’s moment of triumph before he won a new five-year term in power.
On the last day of the congress, Mr. Hu appeared dazed, reached for a document on the table in front of him, and after a brief uproar, he was suddenly escorted out of the hall while other senior officials almost just staring ahead, face as cold as ice. Theories circulated that Mr. Hu was somehow opposing Mr. Xi, although Mr. Hu’s confused expression suggested that illness was the more likely cause. However, Mr. Xi will not want a repeat.
Report contributed by Truong Che, David Pierson, Bronze Joy, Claire Fu and Amy Chang Chien.
