Today is the first anniversary of the death of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and a sensitive day for Chinese Communist Party authorities keen on “building high walls”.

This article by Yuan Li for the New York Times, published on Oct. 28, 2023, commemorates the former Premier whose death “stirred nostalgia for the era he represented: one of better economic prospects and a more open attitude toward private enterprise.”

By Yuan Li | The New York Times

People on social media posted videos of him promising that China would continue to open up to the world. They shared photos of him standing ankle-deep in mud to visit flood victims. They even mentioned his economic growth target for his first year as prime minister: 7.5 percent.

The death on Friday of Li Keqiang, 68, who served as premier for a decade and was China’s No. 2 until March, sparked a spontaneous outpouring of condolences from netizens.

Among many Chinese, Mr. Li’s death has stirred nostalgia for the era he represented: one of better economic prospects and a more open attitude toward private enterprise. The reaction is particularly jarring, reflecting dissatisfaction in China with the leadership of Mr. Xi, a hard-line leader who won an unprecedented third term last year after managing to abolish a long-standing two-term limit.

In one social media thread after another, people praised Mr. Li more for his ideas and words than for his achievements under Mr. Xi, the man who drove economic policy during Mr. Li’s tenure as premier.

The outcry over the death of Li Keqiang, perhaps the least powerful premier in the history of the People’s Republic of China, reflects public frustration with an era of reform and growth that has been abandoned, and a deep sense of powerlessness in a country ruled by Xi Jinping, the most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.

One article widely circulated on social media sites said many Chinese saw themselves in Mr. Li — “struggling to hold on for a decade only to lose ground.

The most shared content was a short video in which Li Keqiang pledged that China’s door to the outside world would remain open: “The Yellow River and the Yangtze River will not flow backwards.” After China’s censorship machine was activated, some of the videos were subsequently deleted or could not be forwarded.

On the social media platform Weibo, many posts expressing shock at his sudden death were censored. Comments calling him “the people’s good prime minister” and “a great man” were not immune. The comments that were allowed were mostly “Rest in peace.”

For many Chinese, Mr. Li’s death was a release of pent-up frustration, anger and anxiety over what they see as Mr. Xi’s mishandling of the economy. Mr. Xi has cracked down on the private sector, undermining the growth of some of China’s most successful companies. He has alienated some of China’s biggest trading partners and moved closer to countries like Russia, while replacing reform-minded leaders with those loyal to him. Mr. Xi has shifted the government’s focus more toward ideology than economics.

To these Chinese, Mr. Li, who has degrees in law and economics, represents the pragmatic technocrat who led the country out of poverty in the 1990s and early 2000s. They recounted Mr. Li’s opening remarks at his first news conference after becoming premier in 2013 .

“We will be loyal to the Constitution, faithful to the people, and guide our policies in accordance with the people’s expectations,” Li Keqiang said.

As people lamented his death, they said they couldn’t believe the country’s economic growth target was 7.5%. In 2022, China missed its 5.5% growth target; this year’s target is less ambitious, but many experts also believe it is unlikely to be met.

People also listed Li Keqiang’s most famous remarks: ” Power should not be used arbitrarily ” and ” touching interests is more difficult than touching the soul.”

Li Keqiang has always been a strong advocate of entrepreneurship and innovation. Many business owners and investors have posted photos of Li Keqiang visiting their companies. They miss the time when the government encouraged new products and new business models, calling it the golden age of entrepreneurship. “He left us so suddenly,” wrote an Internet businessman named Ding. “He also took away the golden decade.”

They posted photos of him visiting Wuhan in January 2020 as the coronavirus ravaged the city . Mr. Xi did not return until nearly two months later, after the initial outbreak had been contained. They posted photos of Mr. Li visiting flood and earthquake victims. Mr. Xi is known for staying away from disaster sites.

They also forwarded a series of photos showing Li Keqiang chatting cordially with other government leaders, in stark contrast to Xi Jinping’s domineering body language when he appeared with his subordinates .

Some thanked Mr. Li for his candor, noting at a 2020 news conference that China, the world’s second-largest economy, still had 600 million people earning less than 1,000 yuan a month , a statement seen as undermining Mr. Xi’s declaration of total poverty reduction.

“There is no perfect person, no perfect politician,” wrote a former journalist named Yan Xiaoyun. “But people should not forget his courage to expose the truth.”

The public reaction on Friday was the most intense outburst of emotion since the “White Paper Movement” in November last year, when thousands of Chinese in many cities took to the streets to protest the government’s draconian “zero-COVID” policy, with many more joining in online protests.

The death of a top leader is always a sensitive event in Chinese politics. Some journalists and commentators have speculated whether Li Keqiang’s death will spark protests like the death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang in 1989 after he died of a heart attack. Most people think it will not, because Xi Jinping has very strict control over the Internet. People speculate that Li Keqiang’s funeral will not be as high-profile as Hu Yaobang’s.

In contrast to the public outcry, Chinese state media initially downplayed the news of Li Keqiang’s death. Major news websites ranked the announcement, which was less than 100 words long, as the third or fourth most important news, after Xi Jinping’s meeting with California Governor Gavin Newsom or the release of a new book on civil affairs. This low-key treatment sparked heated discussions among netizens because it reflected what they saw as Xi Jinping’s consistent humiliation and contempt for Li Keqiang, even after his death.

“Living is depressing, and dying is frustrating ,” a Chinese journalist told me. “Isn’t that the case for all of us?”

For the original version of this article, see the publisher’s website here.