Li Keqiang · Full chronicle and history

A large number of police and plainclothes officers have appeared around Li Keqiang's former residence and Hongxing Road in Hefei, Anhui, monitoring passersby.

October 28 marks the third anniversary of Li Keqiang's death. A netizen submission reported that members of the public spontaneously gathered to mourn on Hongxing Road in Hefei, where his former residence is located.

Rumors online claim that Hu Chunhua will, as a Central Committee member, put forward a motion at the Fifth Plenum of the CCP Central Committee in October 2026, calling on the plenum to authorize the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the cause of Li Keqiang's death, and that this will be made a condition for his succession; the military is also rumored to support the investigation and to demand that Hu Chunhua be added as a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

On July 3, marking the birthday of the late Li Keqiang, netizens resurfaced a 21-second video from the 2020 COVID-19 commendation conference, showing Li Keqiang issuing a low, dry cough after Xi Jinping misread a character.

Overseas leaks claim that Peng Liyuan used her assigned 6-person special security detail to get involved in the 2023 case of Li Keqiang's death, and CCP elders placed her under exit control for a full two years on the grounds of the Li Keqiang case.

Rumors online claim that from July 2025, Li Keqiang's wife Cheng Hong and their daughter issued an open letter demanding an investigation into the cause of Li Keqiang's death; from the end of 2025 they sought the intervention of party elders such as Wen Jiabao and Wang Yang; in January 2026 they reportedly said that if the investigation was not reopened they would go to the petition center to file a public petition, with Wang Yang, Liu Yuan and Hu Chunhua said to be on their side.

Detailed anonymous claims have emerged overseas alleging that Li Keqiang was killed while swimming at the Dongjiao State Guesthouse in Shanghai, directly pointing to the Ministry of Public Security and Wang Xiaohong.

In November 2024, the Minhang District Court in Shanghai sentenced Gu Wanming, former head of the Xinhua News Agency's Guangdong branch, to one year in prison on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. He was criminally detained after issuing an open letter in October 2023 raising five demands over the death of Li Keqiang.

On February 17, 2024, netizens reported that the house number plate at Li Keqiang's former residence at 80 Hongxing Road in Hengzei had been covered up.

On October 30, 2023, Gu Wanming, former head of the Guangdong branch of the Xinhua News Agency, issued an open letter in his capacity as a veteran Party member, making five demands regarding the death of Li Keqiang: suspending the cremation, setting up an investigation team, holding those responsible accountable, conducting an autopsy, and holding the funeral according to protocol. He was subsequently placed under criminal detention.

Former Premier Li Keqiang died suddenly at the Shanghai Dongjiao Guest House at the age of 68, sending shockwaves through the Zhongnanhai leadership and tearing away the veneer of warmth in elite power struggles.

Li Keqiang suffered a heart attack while recuperating in Shanghai and died at 0:10 on October 27, 2023, at the age of 68, after efforts to save him failed.

The sudden death from a heart attack of former Premier Li Keqiang triggered spontaneous national mourning. Universities and authorities across various regions implemented strict security and censorship measures, restricting flowers and gatherings, turning the mourning into an expression of dissatisfaction with the current status quo.

Li Keqiang died in Shanghai. The program linked his death to Xi Jinping and the internal power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but provided no verifiable causal evidence.

On the afternoon of August 30, 2023, Li Keqiang, who had been retired for half a year, made a public appearance at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu. This was his first public appearance after a long period of no public activities, and also his last public footage. The highest-ranking official accompanying him was identified as the Party Secretary of the Dunhuang Academy. Citizens at the scene spontaneously gathered around and shouted "Hello, Premier" to Li Keqiang.

At the closing session of the 20th CCP Congress, political successors left by Hu Jintao—including Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, and Hu Chunhua—failed to enter the new Politburo Standing Committee, while Xi Jinping successfully secured his reappointment as General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

On May 28, 2020, at the closing press conference of the Two Sessions, Li Keqiang said that China's per capita annual income is 30,000 yuan, but 600 million people earn only 1,000 yuan a month.

On March 11, 2018, the first session of the 13th National People's Congress passed the amendment to the constitutional provisions regarding the terms of office of the President and Vice President, removing the limit that the President and Vice President 'shall not serve more than two consecutive terms.' This amendment was interpreted as potentially paving the way for the leader's long-term rule.

In New York, Li Keqiang spoke about a Chinese worker who stayed long-term on a construction site after coming to the city, earning money through overtime to pay his child’s tuition and living expenses at a university in western China.

The Third Plenary Session passed an economic decision. The head and main drafters of the drafting group did not include Li Keqiang, indicating a shift in decision-making power regarding major economic directions.

After taking office, Li Keqiang adopted 'Likonomics' measures such as restricting government spending and deleveraging, attempting to control ballooning debt and promote market-oriented reforms.

The First Plenary Session of the 18th CCP Central Committee has concluded. Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, and Zhang Gaoli have become the new members of the Politburo Standing Committee. Among them, Li Keqiang is the only representative of the Hu Jintao faction, while the Jiang Zemin faction holds the majority.

On October 22, 2007, after the First Plenary Session of the 17th CCP Central Committee, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang were both elected to the Politburo Standing Committee. Xi Jinping ranked sixth but stood in front, and the outside world saw him as the successor to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.

At the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xi Jinping, with a narrow advantage, entered the Politburo Standing Committee along with Li Keqiang, becoming Hu Jintao's successor, while Bo Xilai only made it to the Politburo.

In June 2007, about 400 senior cadres held a closed-door democratic recommendation vote ahead of the 17th CCP National Congress. Reports said Xi Jinping ranked first in votes and Li Keqiang second; the results were never officially released.

In June 2007, Hu Jintao pushed forward a system of democratic recommendations, in which more than 400 Central Committee members and alternate members voted to select Politburo candidates from among more than 200 ministerial-level officials under the age of 63. Large numbers of Jiang Zemin faction members voted in blocs, resulting in Li Keqiang's elimination and Xi Jinping's victory, and Hu Jintao's succession plan fell through.

The then-Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee, Li Keqiang, told the US Ambassador that Liaoning's GDP figures were man-made and for reference only, and that he only looked at electricity consumption, railway cargo volume, and bank loans.

At the CCP's 15th National Congress in September 1997, Xi Jinping was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee for the first time; some commentators said he ranked last among the 151 alternate members by number of votes.