Posted on 07/06/2011 12:40:28 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Is China's Ex-Leader Jiang Zemin Dead? Local Censors Don't Want Any Speculation
Posted by Hannah Beech Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 12:29 am
Is he or isn't he? Around 11 pm on July 5, China's blogosphere began trading in rumors that Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the People's Republic, had died. By midnight local searches on this topic had become very popular. But within half an hour, the heavy hand of China's censors descended. Chinese language searches for words relating to death, even without being paired with Jiang's name, returned the Orwellian message: “According to relevant policies and laws, the search results are not shown below.”
So is Jiang dead? Gossip about the 84-year-old's ill health has circulated for some time, and the fact that he didn't show up for the mega-celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party's 90th anniversary on July 1st further fueled speculation. (In 2009, Jiang joined the festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic.)
(Excerpt) Read more at globalspin.blogs.time.com ...
P!
What an uptight government. It would be like asking if George W. Bush had died.
I think he is indeed gravely ill. It remains to be seen if he is really dead or still on his way to death.
His raw sexual power knows no bounds.
Why the big to-do?
The man retired. He is out of power. I never heard anything about him pulling strings from behind the throne.
What could they possibly be afraid of?
They just want to be in control over the story.
even laz has his bounds
Clearly you don’t know much about Chinise politics. Even though he’s retired, he still has influence, and I’m sure they had a very good reason for this cover-up, if the rumor was true.
Well there’s the rub. Jiang’s peaceful departure was unprecedented in the annals of modern commmie-dom. He left power through peaceful abdication. He wasn’t killed, he wasn’t ousted, he didn’t die in office. How much influence did he retain? How much did he continue to meddle? What sort of “elder statesman” deal did he negotiate?
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