China lowers flags, tightens security for former premier Zhu Rongji's funeral

Beijing lowered national flags at government headquarters to pay respects to former Premier Zhu Rongji, who passed away at 97, as the public remembered a bygone era while reflecting on his legacy. Security was heightened around Tiananmen Square, the political power center, which lies along the east route to the crematorium where top leaders are typically cremated.

Zhu served as vice premier from 1991 to 1998 and premier from 1998 to 2003, spearheading China's economic overhaul in the 1990s. He tackled inflation, tightened tax and banking systems, and implemented a major state-sector restructuring that led to job losses in unprofitable firms. His reforms paved the way for China's 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization, intensifying its global integration.

Zhu's party membership was stripped in the late 1950s for an outspoken speech and not reinstated until roughly two decades later. His death sparked subdued mourning on Chinese social media and among the public, with heightened security, scrutiny and censorship. Deaths of recent former leaders have often led to public gatherings and occasional protests against perceived excesses of the ruling class.

In 1976, tens of thousands gathered in Tiananmen Square after the death of Zhou Enlai, Beijing's first and revered premier, turning mourning into a protest against Cultural Revolution excesses.