CCTV FOLLIES 10.27 "HEAVEN IS WATCHING..."
Li Keqiang's death gets minimal coverage with no room for any remembrance or mourning outside the scope of the carefully-scripted party line obituary -Xi belittles Li Keqiang in death as in life
纯真而不欠闻达，善良而不失坚强，把生命高举于尘俗之上，又溶化于社会之中，这应该是我们这一代的共同追求
“Being innocent but not uneducated, kind but strong, elevating life above the dust of the world and integrating into society, this should be the common pursuit of our generation.”
—Li Keqiang expressed his life goals thusly upon graduating Beijing University at age 27 in a calligraphic style that reflects both erudition and art.
(10.29 updates at the bottom of this report)
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The first state TV announcement of former premier Li Keqiang’s passing came at the opening of the 8AM morning news on October 27, 2023 which is simulcast on the main channel CCTV 1 and the dedicated news channel CCTV 13.
It is reported that Li Keqiang died in Shanghai at 12:10 AM on October 27, 2023
This terse announcement is followed by the regular news hour and other news programs that follow that on the dedicated news channel, with scant repeat mention, let alone updates.
Notices in the print media are equally terse and not ranked at the top of the news.
State-controlled social media showed an early interest in the topic.
Social media in Chinese and English, in China and abroad, saw an early flood of commemoration and concern.
The earliest known photo of Li Keqiang was posted as was a photo of him as a student at Beida, standing second from the right.
In March of this year, Li issued a cryptic quote at a farewell gathering:
人在幹，天在看，蒼天有眼
“Heaven is watching, the doings of man, the firmament has eyes.”
This quote, reported in overseas media at the time, is wide open to interpretation. Not surprisingly it never once got aired on CCTV but it is now making the rounds on the internet in remembrance of him.
Conspiracy theorists are revisiting conspiracies about Xi’s paranoia and how much more preferable it would have been for Li Keqiang to lead China instead.
A provincial notice reposted by @whyyoutouzhele announces Li Keqiang’s death. Right from the top it warns against the dissemination of any remembrance or mourning activity, online or off, other than the state-issued obituary.
One of many hard-to-confirm stories floating around on social media suggests that Li might have been swimming at the Shanghai state guest house at the time and received sluggish or inadequate aid before being taken to Shuguang East Hospital:
据说是李克强游泳时得心梗，然后送到附近的曙光东院，没有抢救过来
“It is said that Li Keqiang suffered a myocardial infarction while swimming and was sent to the nearby Shuguang East Hospital, but he was not rescued.”
Li was understood to be visiting Shanghai as a guest at the Dongjiao State Guest Hotel, which posted an announcement just hours after his death that it was temporarily suspending service under November 7.
The guest house located in the Pudong district near the airport has a VIP wing guarded by CCP’s Praetorian Guard. Retired leaders are said to get the best health care available in China and go nowhere without a retinue of aides and bodyguards.
The bumbling response, which by some accounts dragged on for six hours after the swimming pool incident raises uncomfortable questions about why he didn’t receive expert on-site medical assistance. Another irregularity is that he was reportedly sent to the relatively distant Shuguang hospital for Chinese Traditional Medicine, 上海曙光医院 when Zhongshan, 中山医院, a much better hospital, was closer by.
The swimming pool in question.
Back to CCTV. The evening news report on October 27, 2023, which aired about 19 hours after Li’s midnight death, has little new information to offer.
The top story of the day is….. Xi Jinping!
In death as in life, it seems important to Xi and his controllers at the news service that the mild-mannered Li Keqiang should be side-lined and belittled to remind people who’s really the boss.
“Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Friday presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The meeting reviewed a guideline on policies and measures to further promote a new breakthrough in the full revitalization of northeast China in the new era. The revitalization of northeast China was a major strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee the meeting noted.”
The account of the meeting over which Xi presided goes on and on….
This “important” top story got a tedious five-minute readout, all words, no pictures.
The next top story at this tender juncture when the former premier has died under yet to be explained circumstances focuses on the successful conclusion of a visit by current premier Premier Li Qiang, who promoted the Belt and Road in Kyrgyzstan on Xi’s behalf where he met with representatives of Iran, Belarus and other countries on the “Road.”
“China stands ready to push for deeper synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Belarus' strategy for social and economic development and jointly build the China-Belarus Industrial Park and other key projects Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Friday. China is willing to work with Belarus to follow through on the important consensus reached between their heads of state Li added when meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko on the sidelines of the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States. Under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, bilateral relations have achieved leap-forward development in recent years.” (Xinhua)
That bracing story on “leap-forward development” is followed by the third story of the evening:
Li Keqiang is dead.
It’s a formal and sober announcement, followed by a very lengthy readout (over ten minutes) of the party’s official party-approved obituary, which at times sounds like a tone-deaf reminder that the party is in charge. It’s a muted, indirect celebration of party accomplishments. No pictures other than the funereal portrait are offered.
“Li died of a sudden heart attack at 00:10 on Friday after all-out rescue efforts failed. Li was an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier and an outstanding proletarian revolutionist, statesman and leader of the Party and the state…”
(The obituary notice was jointly issued by the Central Committee, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the State Council and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.)
“Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, confronting multiple challenges including fast-changing international situations, the COVID-19 epidemic and downward pressure in the domestic economy, Li followed the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, fully and faithfully applied the new development philosophy on all fronts, worked to create a new pattern of development, promoted high-quality development, and balanced development and security imperatives.”
Then it’s back to economic news, to remind the citizens of China that Xi Jinping is in charge and can really deliver the goods.
A People’s Daily editorial on the resilience of the economy is next, concluding the domestic news which is followed by a lengthy report on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
CCTV news has tons of interesting material about Li Keqiang in its vast archives, but little of it will see the light of day. Circulating on the internet are memorable scenes of the two men standing side by side at the 20th party congress. It was just one year ago but it already has the patina of ancient history, history made more poignant by the disappearance of Hu Jintao in the middle of the meeting, as can be seen in the before and after screenshots below.
Hu Jintao’s forced exit, ordered by Xi, must have been shocking to Li Keqiang.
Xi’s poker face may be hard to read but one can surely detect a hint of sadness on the face of Li Keqiang after Hu’s ejection from the meeting hall. Not long after that, Li himself stepped down and was effectively stripped of all power in keeping with Xi’s historic mandate as leader for life with a new hand-picked standing committee of the politburo at the conclusion of the 20th party congress.
李克强同志的一生，是革命的一生、奋斗的一生、光辉的一生，是全心全意为人民服务的一生，是献身于共产主义事业的一生。他的逝世，是党和国家的重大损失。我们要化悲痛为力量，学习他的革命精神、崇高品德和优良作风，更加紧密地团结在以习近平同志为核心的党中央周围，高举中国特色社会主义伟大旗帜，全面贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，坚定信心、同心同德，踔厉奋发、勇毅前行，为以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业而团结奋斗。
10.29 update: The CCP has banned mourning activities nationwide and Tiananmen Square is on lock down, but small personal tributes, floral offerings and home-made memorials proliferate across the length and breadth of China. Many of these one-off photos and mini-memorials were reposted by 蔡霞 @realcaixia, a former party school instructor who broke with the party and is now in exile in the US and Teacher Li (@whyyoutouzhele) an exiled activist, who are not only showing evidence of grief in unexpected places, but are breathing life into the dying Twitter, giving it the chance to play the role of a global commons and informal democracy wall before it self-destructs from greed, stupidity and corporate ineptitude.
These small, spontaneous gestures towards memory, meaning and reconciliation of past grievance and injustice stand in sharp contrast to the deafening roar of state propaganda today which all but ignores Li Keqiang’s passing and instead sings praise and heaps tone-deaf tributes on the pathologically jealous and dictatorial Xi Jinping whose brittle ego allows for no competition, let alone contenders for the people’s affection.
The courage it takes to place a floral wreath at a prominent location in a highly-surveilled city scape can not be underestimated.
The “Halloween” revelers in Shanghai shown below who dressed up in costumes sporting memorial flowers and sporting a mock road sign about “missing you” (to the death) were both quickly arrested by police.
Li Keqiang, RIP.