Xi, other officials receive body of ex-president in Beijing
President Xi Jinping led dozens of top officials in receiving the body of former president Jiang Zemin yesterday, after the casket was flown from Shanghai to Beijing.
Jiang, who had leukaemia, died of multiple organ failure on Wednesday in Shanghai at the age of 96. As one of the country’s most influential leaders, he elevated China’s global standing and led the nation’s economic integration with the rest of the world.
State broadcaster CCTV showed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan standing to attention on the lawn of Beijing’s Xijiao Airport as they waited for the plane.
Xi was joined by all Beijingbased members of the 24-strong Politburo, as well as outgoing senior officials, including Premier Li Keqiang and Vice-President Wang Qishan.
The body was flown to Beijing after a farewell ceremony in Shanghai attended by Jiang’s family and close friends. Jiang’s wife Wang Yeping and other family members had accompanied the body along with Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
The officials later followed the casket to an unidentified location in Beijing, supposedly in Babaoshan, where the body would be kept until cremation.
The authorities in Shanghai sealed off all main roads between the ceremonial hall and the airport, allowing what appeared to be selected crowds to gather by the road to see Jiang off.
The public also laid flowers at Jiang’s old house in his hometown of Yangzhou in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
A state funeral would be held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday morning, state media reported.
The event, which is expected to be attended by current and retired top leaders, will be broadcast live.
Beijing has said no foreign guests will be invited for the official mourning.
Xi has been in the middle of a busy week of receiving foreign guests, and has mentioned Jiang in all of those meetings.
He described his predecessor as a “great Marxist”, a “socialist warrior” and an “outstanding leader” during a meeting with his Laotian counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith on Wednesday.
“We mourn Comrade Jiang Zemin in great grief,” he said, adding the Communist Party would “transform our grief into power”.
He mentioned Jiang again during yesterday’s meeting with Charles Michel, president of the European Council.
Xi said Jiang had attached great importance to ChinaEuropean Union ties, adding: “We will carry on his legacy and continue to consolidate and develop China-EU relations.”