Beijing: China lowered the national flag at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Thursday amid an outpour of grief online as the country prepared to cremate former premier Li Keqiang, known as "the people's premier" for his down-to-earth, hands-on leadership.
"In memory of comrade Li Keqiang, flags were flown at half-mast at Tiananmen Square in the capital," state media said.
Messages for the late premier, who died last week, flooded social media platforms as Chinese citizens mourned his death. Many tributes said people would remember Li, while some shared yesteryear photos and videos of Li with his quotes.
On popular social media platform Weibo, which replaced its 'like' button with a chrysanthemum flower symbolising mourning on related posts, tens of thousands of people left comments bidding Li farewell on a Thursday post by China's national broadcaster.
Li was the top trending topic on Weibo. The hashtag for his mourning drew 430 million views.
Undated photos of the memorial service on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showed the late leader's remains partially covered with a Chinese Communist Party flag, surrounded by flowers and plants.
Li, a former economist and pro-reform leader who served as the premier for 10 years before retiring in March, died of a heart attack in Shanghai last Friday and his remains were transferred to the capital Beijing the same day.
A Beijinger surnamed Gao, 39, said Li will be remembered for his contibutions to the country.
"It can be said that he has made a great contribution to people's lives, to the improvement of living standards. For the past pandemic, the premier always rushed to the front line," Gao said.
Once viewed as a Communist Party leadership contender, Li was sidelined in recent years, analysts and diplomats said, as President Xi Jinping tightened his grip on economic policymaking.
"Personally, I still feel a bit unreal (about his death) because I feel like he's a good premier and suddenly he's gone. And then I also feel sad for him because he was not yet old," a 24-year-old Beijing-based lawyer by the surname Wan said.
Shanghai resident Zhang Shijun described Li as down-to-earth.
"It is also obvious that (he has done a lot for) the welfare of the people's livelihood. (He did) a lot for our people. (He is) very humble and low-key," the 34-year-old said.
Some businesses such as international coffee chain Starbucks turned their app interface black and white in mourning for Li.
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