China remembers Princess Diana

Small scale commemorative activities were also held in China.

For example, Tianjin- based newspaper Tonight News Paper published an online article that looked back on the princess’s life, as well as posted a link to a cover of British singer Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind ‘ 97” performed by the New Tribute Kings.

Boke Tianxia, a popular Chinese magazine, expressed its condolence in article in which it stated that daianna nainai ( Grandma Diana), as Diana is called in Chinese, would never be forgotten.

Moreover, a wax statue exhibition called “The Rose Never Fades Away” kicked off its tour of 10 cities on Friday in Beijing. The organizers said that once the tour comes to an end they will present the statue to the princess’s hometown of Norfolk, England.

The anniversary of Diana’s death also revealed a great generational divide in China.

In interviews with the Global Times, most of the interviewees who belonged to the Post- 1990 generation said they didn’t “really know much about her.”

Some said they have a little information about her but hadn’t realized that this year marked the 20th anniversary of her passing.

“Diana was a legend who greatly infl uenced China. She was strong, fashionable and brave. However, her fame [ in China] has gradually faded away, so the new generation don’t know much about her,” Zhang Yiwu, a culture scholar at Peking University, told the Global Times.