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Li Keqiang
ChinaPolitics

In Li Keqiang’s heartland, a flood of floral tributes for China’s former premier

  • The public come out in person to lay flowers over the weekend at Li’s childhood home and key places from his career
  • Videos posted online show people gathering in Henan and Anhui, but official media offer scant coverage

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People gather near a residential house where the late former Chinese premier Li Keqiang spent his childhood in Hefei, Anhui province, on Saturday. Photo: Kyodo
Hayley Wong
Members of the public gathered in cities with ties to Li Keqiang to pay tribute to the former premier on the weekend, laying masses of yellow and white flowers at landmarks associated with his life, according to footage posted online.
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Li, an advocate of economic reform, died suddenly on Friday morning in Shanghai. His body was flown to Beijing but there has been no official announcement of arrangements for his funeral.
Members of the public lay flowers outside a residential building in Hefei, Anhui province, where late Chinese premier Li Keqiang spent his childhood. Photo: Chinatopix Via AP
Members of the public lay flowers outside a residential building in Hefei, Anhui province, where late Chinese premier Li Keqiang spent his childhood. Photo: Chinatopix Via AP

In Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, bunches of flowers mounted in downtown Erqi Square on Sunday, according to videos posted on the Douyin social media account belonging to Wynews.cn, a Wuyi county news site in coastal Zhejiang province.

Li spent six years from the later 1990s in Henan, first as governor, then as its Communist Party boss.

Dozens of people, from children to the elderly, gathered in the square to commemorate him, according to the footage. Douyin is TikTok’s counterpart on mainland China.

Videos also showed people gathering to lay flowers in a square in the city’s Zhengdong New District, an economic development zone established in 2003 when Li was the provincial party secretary.

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