BEIJING, Dec. 1 (BNA): Chinese newspapers blanketed their front pages in black Thursday, raising flags to mourn the death of former President Jiang Zemin, while well-wishers laid piles of bouquets outside his childhood home.
Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon from leukemia and multiple organ failure, at the age of 96.
His death sparked a wave of nostalgia for the relatively more liberal times he oversaw, Reuters reports.
No date has yet been set for his funeral.
The ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily devoted its front page entirely to Jiang, and carried a large photo of him wearing his trademark “toad” glasses.
“Beloved Comrade Jiang Zemin will never be forgotten,” it said in its headline above a story reprinting the official announcement of his death.
Flags flew at half mast on major government buildings and Chinese embassies abroad, while the homepages of e-commerce platforms Taobao and JD.com also turned black and white.
Mourners laid stacks of bouquets of white chrysanthemums, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, outside Jiang’s childhood home in the eastern city of Yangzhou, a witness told Reuters, who declined to be identified because of sensitivities about discussing anything political in China.
The person added that some people knelt in front of his house as a sign of respect.
On one bunch, he read the words “Grandpa Jiang, rest in peace.”
SM