CCTV FOLLIES 10:31 BURYING THE NEWS IN PLAIN SIGHT

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After four days of deafening TV silence on Li Keqiang following the abrupt October 27 8:00 AM announcement of his death (despite every effort to save him) the CCTV morning news on October 31 offers a terse announcement about a November 2 cremation date for the body that has already been flown from Shanghai to Beijing. The flag at Tiananmen Square and three other locations in Beijing will briefly fly at half mast. There will be no state funeral.

Meanwhile ordinary citizens have been quietly taking note of Li’s passing, laying out flowers and hand-penned remembrances across the country in a groundswell of gentle resistance in the face of a ban on such expression. A common theme of remembrance was not what a great premier he was, because Xi’s rude usurpation power left Li with little influence, but that he was a rare decent man in an indecent system.

(2023.10.31) 中国共产党的优秀党员，久经考验的忠诚的共产主义战士，杰出的无产阶级革命家、政治家，党和国家的卓越领导人，中国共产党第十七届、十八届、十九届中央政治局常委，国务院原总理李克强同志的遗体，将于 11 月 2 日在北京火化。

By the time the eve…