Two commemorations this past week heralded bygone Chinese leaders from the 1990s, seen as the most consequential and difficult decade of its reform era.
Monday marked what would have been the 100th birthday of President Jiang Zemin, who took over as leader of the country in the dark days following the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In President Xi Jinping’s speech heralding Jiang—who died in 2022—he broke with protocol to mention the “political turmoil” of 1989 and recognized Jiang as having managed a non-violent de-escalation of parallel demonstrations in Shanghai, where he was serving as Communist Party chief.
Last week, authorities also announced the death of Jiang’s right-hand man, Premier Zhu Rongji, though with far less fanfare, perhaps recognizing the complicated legacy that Zhu left behind. Zhu enacted the painful restructuring of China’s state-owned enterprises that left over 30 million workers unemployed, but which put the country’s economy on a more solid footing to enter into the World Trade Organization in 2001. The many obituaries and commentaries written this week about Zhu recognize this mark on his record. He was tough, a straight talker. He wanted what was best for China, but he was willing to sacrifice the livelihoods of many to achieve it.