Former Leader Jiang's Body Arrives In Beijing As China Mourns

Yangzhou, China, Dec 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Dec, 2022 ) :The body of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin arrived in Beijing Thursday ahead of a public memorial service, Chinese state media said, as hundreds of people gathered in his hometown to pay their respects.

A special flight carrying Jiang's remains from Shanghai, where he died on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, was met at the airport by President Xi Jinping, state media said.

State broadcaster CCTV announced that a public memorial service would be held on Tuesday morning in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"The memorial conference will be broadcast live, and all regions and departments must organise the majority of party members, cadres, and the masses to listen and watch," CCTV announced.

A nationwide three-minute silence will be held, together with three minutes of sirens wailing.

Flags will fly at half-mast across the country, and public entertainment activities will be suspended on the day of the service, CCTV said, adding that there would be no "farewell ceremony".

Hundreds of people gathered in Jiang's hometown, the eastern city of Yangzhou, on Thursday evening to pay their respects, leaving a thick pile of bouquets around the perimeter of his former residence.

A roadside flower seller said she had "lost count" of the number of chrysanthemums -- Chinese funeral flowers -- she had sold on Thursday.

AFP reporters witnessed people queuing to lay them down against the grey stone wall of the traditional house, with some bowing and saying brief prayers.

"He was a great, patriotic and positive leader," Li Yaling, a woman in her late 60s, told AFP. "We admired him greatly, and feel loss and nostalgia now he's gone.""He was a very good leader," a middle-aged man named Yan said. "He made a great contribution to improving the lives of people in Yangzhou, particularly through building new infrastructure. As national leader, he kept up reform and opening and helped grow the economy."Security personnel at the site politely but firmly moved groups of mourners quickly down the narrow alley past the historic building in an apparent attempt to avoid people gathering.