2026-08-18
Zhu Rongji's remains were cremated at Babaoshan in Beijing. Xinwen Lianbo broadcast the farewell ceremony, and the official press release and television footage sparked widespread speculation abroad about which retired senior officials attended.
2026-08-18
A farewell ceremony for Zhu Rongji was held at Babaoshan in Beijing. Xi Jinping attended and shook hands with Zhu Rongji's family members, while memorial activities in many places were strictly controlled.
2026-08-18
A farewell ceremony for Zhu Rongji was held at Babaoshan; according to information from outside the Great Firewall, the military used the related events to step up security in Beijing and at the Great Hall of the People.
2026-08-18
On the morning of August 18, 2026, the remains of Zhu Rongji, former Premier of China's State Council, were cremated at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing, with Xi Jinping and other Chinese Communist Party leaders attending to pay their respects.
2026-08-16
Reports claim that Zhu Rongji's memorial service has been canceled, and his remains are scheduled to be cremated on August 18, with flags to be flown at half-mast nationwide and at Chinese embassies abroad on that day. At the time the video was published, the claimed cremation date had not yet arrived.
2026-08-15
A reporter went to Zhu Rongji's ancestral home in Hunan and found dozens of plainclothes police officers and local officials watching over the site, though members of the public still came to lay flowers in tribute.
2026-08-15
The Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management published a memorial article titled "Forever Our Former Dean Zhu Rongji and the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management," reviewing his founding of the school and his efforts to promote reform.
2026-08-13
On August 13, photos of bouquets and candles posted by netizens on social platforms to mourn Zhu Rongji were subjected to platform censorship and throttling, and the comment section of posts about laying flowers at his ancestral home was also cleared.
2026-08-13
On August 13, 2026, multiple Chinese social networking platforms imposed keyword blocking and traffic throttling controls on images and texts mourning Zhu Rongji, and some users had to avoid his full name in order to publish their expressions.
2026-08-13
On August 13, 2026, members of the public went to Zhu Rongji's ancestral home in Tangpo, Ansha Town, Changsha, Hunan, to lay flowers and pay their respects; online platforms subsequently cleared the comment sections under videos of the on-site memorial.
2026-08-12
The death of Zhu Rongji has triggered a re-evaluation across all sectors of society of his image as the "iron-fisted premier" during his lifetime, as well as his family's wealth and his legacy as an upright official.
2026-08-12
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji passed away on August 12 at the age of 98. He served as Premier of the State Council from 1998 to 2003, promoted China's accession to the WTO, and was known for his tough stance on anti-corruption. His death has sparked discussions about the current state of China's politics and economy.
2026-08-12
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has died in Beijing at the age of 98. Official assessments praise him as an outstanding leader and a driving force behind reform and opening up, while evaluations overseas are mixed.
2026-08-12
Former State Council Premier Zhu Rongji has died, and his remains were cremated in Beijing, with the flag at Tiananmen lowered to half-mast in mourning. The official obituary and related reports credited Zhu Rongji's achievements during his tenure to the core of Jiang Zemin, drawing widespread public attention.
2026-08-12
After the announcement of Zhu Rongji's death, rumors emerged overseas about the arrangements for his funeral, mentioning details such as wreaths sent by Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and others, and requests for instructions.
2026-08-12
At 11:06 on August 12, 2026, Zhu Rongji, former Premier of China's State Council, died in Beijing at the age of 98 after treatment for his illness failed. Xinhua News Agency officially released the obituary that evening.
2026-08-11
Netizen Dachang Baijie posted on the X platform an exclusive disclosure of Zhu Rongji's death, ahead of the official announcement and even ahead of the actual time of death.
2026-08
The passing of former State Council Premier Zhu Rongji has sparked heated online discussion and various evaluations from all sectors regarding his historical merits and demerits, as well as his family's corruption issues.
2026-08
Reports indicate that the family and nephew-in-law Wu Zhengping of former Premier Zhu Rongji are facing a comprehensive crackdown by Xi Jinping, with their assets seized and affiliated company personnel missing. Zhu Rongji himself reportedly passed away recently without a funeral committee being established.
2026-08
After Xi Jinping came to power, Wu Zhengping, the nephew-in-law of Zhu Rongji, was required to hand back tens of billions of yuan in assets, step down from all his posts, and his personal spending was restricted.
2002-03
In 2002, workers at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Plant launched weeks of protests over long-term unpaid wages and losing everything after being laid off; worker representatives were subsequently arrested and sentenced on charges of illegal assembly, inciting subversion of state power, and others, on Zhu Rongji's signal.
2001-12-11
On December 11, 2001, China officially became a member of the World Trade Organization after an agreement was reached at the ministerial conference in Doha.
1999-11-15
In November 1999, Jiang Zemin instructed Zhu Rongji to facilitate the China-US WTO accession negotiations at all costs, and the basic framework was ultimately determined.
1999-04-06
In April 1999, Zhu Rongji visited the United States to negotiate China's entry into the WTO and made a number of concession commitments.
1998-03
After taking office as Premier of the State Council, Zhu Rongji initiated the three-year relief program for state-owned enterprises. Through the policy of 'seizing the large and releasing the small' and downsizing for efficiency, he triggered a massive wave of layoffs among SOE workers.
1998
Zhu Rongji came to Focus Report and wrote the inscription “public opinion supervision, the mouthpiece of the masses, a mirror for the government, and a vanguard of reform.” At that time, the proportion of public opinion supervision content broadcast by the program once reached 47%.
1998
Zhu Rongji replicated in the State Council Shanghai's approach to streamlining processes, cutting the number of ministries and commissions in half from 40; large numbers of cadres at division level and above were reassigned to the private sector or took early retirement, making the scale of personnel changes unprecedented.
1995-07
During the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, cross-strait relations and U.S.-China relations faced heightened tensions.
1995
Starting in 1995, Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji proposed the "grasping the large and letting go of the small" reform for state-owned enterprises, requiring them to gradually withdraw from non-critical industries.
1994-01-01
Zhu Rongji pushed forward the tax-sharing reform, allocating 75 percent of value-added tax to the central government and retaining 25 percent for local governments, while establishing a vertical national tax team. This led to a massive surge in central government fiscal revenue alongside a sharp increase in local fiscal pressure, laying hidden dangers for land finance and local government debt.
1993
In June 1993, Zhu Rongji led the introduction of the sixteen measures for macroeconomic control to curb inflation; in 1994 the tax-sharing reform was implemented, redividing central and local finances, and the economy subsequently made a soft landing.
1992-10
At the First Plenary Session of the 14th CCP Central Committee in October 1992, 64-year-old Zhu Rongji was promoted directly from alternate member of the Central Committee to the Politburo Standing Committee, ranking first among vice premiers, becoming a leader at the national level.
1991
Zhu Rongji went to Northeast China and, by auditing accounts and injecting capital into banks, successfully cleared hundreds of billions of yuan of inter-enterprise triangle debt.
1991
In 1991, Jiefang Daily, the official newspaper of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, ran four consecutive articles under the pen name Huangfuping that vigorously championed reform and opening up and challenged conservatives within the Party; editor-in-chief Zhou Ruijin later confirmed that they were written by Zhu Rongji himself.
1990
The restructuring of state-owned enterprises led by Zhu Rongji officially recorded 28 million workers laid off in just six years; in total, about 60 million jobs disappeared from the state sector, including public sector positions. The northeast region was hit hardest, with its share of GDP falling from about 10% to 4.6%.
1990
In the 1990s, Hainan's land speculation activities were rectified, and Zhu Rongji was credited with halting related land speculation.
1989-05
During the June Fourth turmoil of 1989, Zhu Rongji broke with convention by appearing on television to make an appeal, saying that Shanghai was different from Beijing and that troops and police would not be deployed, and stating that no one could conceal the historical facts; this footage was later circulated repeatedly.
1989-04
Because the World Economic Herald published an article commemorating Hu Yaobang, Shanghai Municipal Party Secretary Jiang Zemin ordered the article pulled and suspended editor-in-chief Qin Benli for self-reflection, sparking protests by journalists and students.
1978
In 1978, Hu Yaobang presided over nationwide rehabilitation, and Zhu Rongji had his Party membership restored in this process. He was then transferred to work at the Institute of Industrial Economics by his former superior Ma Hong, who had been appointed director of the institute.
1970
In 1970, Zhu Rongji was assigned to a May 7 Cadre School with extremely poor conditions to work full-time raising pigs, from the age of 42 to 47, a period of five years.
1958-01
During the 1957 rectification campaign, he was labeled a Rightist for offering opinions, expelled from the Party, removed from his posts, sent down to do manual labor, and went through the Cultural Revolution.
1949-10
After the founding of New China in October 1949, Zhu Rongji joined the Chinese Communist Party, and after graduation he was assigned to work in Northeast China.
1947
In 1947, Zhu Rongji was admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering of National Tsinghua University, where he majored in electrical machine manufacturing. While at the university, he was elected class monitor and president of the Tsinghua University Student Union.
1928-10-23
Zhu Rongji was born in Hunan. His family background was prominent, being a descendant of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. His great-grandfather, Zhu Changlin, was a wealthy local merchant who invested in modern industry.