Citywide arrangements to mourn with mainland
Observation of silence among plans on Tuesday when state funeral is held
Hong Kong will mourn the death of former president Jiang Zemin with citywide arrangements next week, including all officials and civil servants observing three minutes of silence and different sectors being asked to call off any entertainment activities.
A government spokesman yesterday said the city would mourn together with “mainland compatriots” as a state funeral for the former leader was being held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday morning.
RTHK will arrange a live television broadcast of the funeral, while government staff will observe three minutes’ silence and members of the public will be able to do the same at designated locations, according to a Hong Kong government statement.
National and regional flags at all government departments will fly at half-mast as will those at government schools and kindergartens which will also arrange viewing of the funeral on campuses.
All entertainment and celebratory activities organised or funded by the authorities will be postponed or cancelled. The government called on other organisations to follow suit.
Certain events in the city were also put on hold as a mark of respect, with Hong Kong Disneyland stopping its firework shows until Monday.
The arrangements were announced as local political heavyweights as well as ordinary residents continued to pour into Beijing’s liaison office in the city to pay their respects.
Maria Tam Wai-chu, vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee that advises the central government on Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, was among politicians who visited the mourning hall at the liaison office in Sai Wan for Jiang, who died on Wednesday aged 96.
Tam recalled Jiang’s affection for and connection with the city, especially during tough times after 1989 when China faced a lot of pressure internationally following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
“At that time, the drafting of the Basic Law was put on hold, and discussions on the Rose
Garden Project [for Hong Kong] had also stopped,” she said, referring to the British colonial government’s port and airport development strategy of the late 1980s.
“In the end, China and Britain were able to complete the drafting and finish the Rose Garden Project. To achieve this, there must have been many wise arrangements.
“He will be dearly missed. Jiang was very familiar with Hong Kong, a city where East meets West. I believe he also had a lot of experiences, and had a sound understanding of foreign culture, arts and history. He was very talkative, affable and amiable.”
Other officials and heavyweights paying homage yesterday included culture secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, former city delegate to China’s top legislative body, and ex-Executive Council convenor Bernard Chan.
Prominent figures from the business sector also paid tribute including Sun Hung Kai Properties chairman Raymond Kwok Ping-luen and executive directors Adam Kwok Kai-fai and Christopher Kwok Kai-wang.
The death of JIANG ZEMIN
New World Development CEO Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, Bank of East Asia’s David Li Kwok-po and his two sons, and MTR Corporation chairman Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen and chief executive Jacob Kam Chak-pui also paid their respects.
The tributes came as the United Kingdom, the United States and India joined other countries expressing condolences over Jiang’s death.
Britain’s ambassador to China, Caroline Wilson, said Jiang was the first Chinese leader to visit the UK, and had overseen the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and China’s entry into the World
Trade Organization in 2001. “The UK offers its condolences,” she tweeted.
Wilson also noted that Jiang was born in 1926, the same year as Queen Elizabeth. The former British monarch died in September.
Nicholas Burns, America’s ambassador to China, also tweeted that Jiang had worked to advance US-China ties at a “consequential time while managing our differences – an imperative that continues today”. He said the US sent condolences to Jiang’s family and the Chinese people.
The Indian embassy in Beijing expressed “deepest condolences on the passing of former president of the People’s Republic of China, Jiang Zemin”, in a post on Weibo.
Jiang, who ruled China as Communist Party chief from 1989 to 2002, died in Shanghai from leukaemia and multiple organ failure, state news agency Xinhua said.
His body was flown from Shanghai to Beijing on Thursday.
During Jiang’s presidency from 1993 to 2003, China became more integrated into the global economy and grew in international stature. He counted Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty from British rule as one of his proudest achievements.