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

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.

At Ruyi Lake, also in Zhengzhou, large photographs of Li and floral wreaths appeared alongside blocks of characters saying “the great premier of the people, the great secretary of Henan”.

In Hefei in neighbouring province Anhui, where Li was born and spent his early years, people streamed in to lay flowers near Li’s childhood home from Friday, videos circulating on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of flowers with cards covered in excerpts of Li’s speeches and personal notes surrounded the residential compound of his childhood home.

“The Yellow and Yangtze rivers will never reverse their flow,” one wrote, quoting from his speech last year about his belief in continuing to open the country up for international trade and business.

More people lined the road outside the compound on Saturday midnight, where police blocked vehicles from entry.

Videos circulating online showed deliverymen, children, and people of a range of ages together at the scene.

It was a similar case in Li’s ancestral home in Chuzhou, another city in Anhui.

Residents brought flowers near Li’s ancestral house to pay tribute on Saturday, according to the official Chuzhou Daily.

But commemorations by media outlets were subdued, with footage largely limited to social media channels rather than official sites. Among the other local media services that did post on Weibo were regional broadcaster Guangxi Radio and Television and Weidu News, a social media channel under Heilongjiang New Media Group. Beijing Radio and Television Station posted material on its Douyin news account.

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‘People’s Premier’: former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of a heart attack at age 68

‘People’s Premier’: former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of a heart attack at age 68

Li stepped down as premier in March after a decade in the position.

University counsellors and leaders have been told to avoid arranging memorial activities, for fear that public gatherings for the senior official’s death will turn into emotional protests.

But some commemoration is still allowed in the cities with ties to Li, and feature articles and Li’s speeches have been reposted on the internet.

Poems of sorrow and condolence written by a range of poets from around the country for “the people’s premier” have also been circulating online.