Overview
- Zhu Rongji, who died in Beijing on Wednesday, Aug. 12, will be cremated in Beijing on Aug. 18 and national flags will fly at half‑mast at Tian’anmen, major government buildings and Chinese missions overseas.
- As premier from 1998 to 2003, Zhu is widely credited with securing China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization and using that commitment as leverage to force domestic reforms.
- His policy toolkit included a 1994 tax overhaul that centralized revenue, large‑scale restructuring of state‑owned enterprises, tight credit controls to fight inflation, and sale of state housing to occupants.
- Those moves helped drive rapid growth and big poverty reductions while also producing social costs—one estimate cites tens of millions of state‑sector job losses—and a fiscal model that made local governments dependent on land sales.
- State obituaries praise his record even as analysts debate long‑run consequences for China’s growth and as party events this week invoke elder leaders’ legacies in support of current leadership; some reports list his age at death as 97 while others say 98.