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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with a family member of late Chinese leader Li Peng in Beijing, July 29, 2019. /Xinhua Photo
The cremation ceremony for Li Peng, former Chinese premier and former chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, was held in Beijing on Monday.
Li passed away on July 22.
Chinese leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan and former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin stood in silent tribute and bowed three times in front of Li's body at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. They also extended their condolences to his family. Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who is not in Beijing, sent a wreath and his condolences.
Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng, Wang Qishan, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao had either visited Li when he was in hospital or offered their condolences to his family after his death.
Deng Xiaoping speaks with Li Peng (R) in Beijing, 1988. /Xinhua Photo
Xi Jinping and Li Peng (R) pose for a photo in Beijing, November 14, 2012. /Xinhua Photo
Jiang Zemin and Li Peng (R) pose for a photo in Beijing, November 8, 2012. /Xinhua Photo
Hu Jintao and Li Peng (R) pose for a photo in Beijing, October 21, 2007. /Xinhua Photo
Li Peng (L, back) poses for a photo with other students and their teacher in the Soviet Union, June 1, 1949. /Xinhua Photo
Li Peng celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year with residents in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, February 19, 1996. /Xinhua Photo
Li Peng oversees the swearing-in ceremony of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, July 1, 1997. /Xinhua Photo
In tribute to Li, the national flag was flown at half-mast on Monday at Tian'anmen Square, Xinhuamen, the Great Hall of the People and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, seats of provincial-level committees of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and provincial-level governments, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, border ports, seaports and airports across the country, as well as Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.
Born in October 1928, Li was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee from 1987 to 2002.
He became acting premier of the State Council in November 1987 and served as Chinese premier from April 1988 to March 1998.
After that, he served as China's top legislator until March 2003.
China's national flag flies at half-mast at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, July 29, 2019. /VCG Photo
Li was praised in an obituary jointly issued by the CPC Central Committee, the NPC Standing Committee, the State Council and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as "an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, and an outstanding proletarian revolutionary, statesman and leader of the Party and the state."
Li was a major pathfinder, a faithful practitioner and an active promoter of China's socialist market economy, as well as a significant leader in developing socialist democracy and rule of law with Chinese characteristics, the statement said.
(With input from Xinhua)