Former China president Jiang Zemin dies

Jiang Zemin led China through an era of stunning transformation after coming to power in the traumatic aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

He died Wednesday at the age of 96, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Jiang rose from a factory engineer to leader of the world’s most populous country, steering China towards its emergence as the global trade, military, and political power that it is today.

When he took office in 1989, China was still in the cautious early stages of economic modernisation and an international pariah over the crushing of the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement.

But by the time Jiang retired as president in 2003, China was a member of the World Trade Organization, Britain had handed over Hong Kong, Beijing had secured the 2008 Olympics, and the country was well on its way to superpower status.

Analysts say Jiang and his “Shanghai Gang” faction continued to exert influence over communist politics, including in the selection of Xi Jinping as president in 2012.

However, his power was believed to have waned as Xi’s influence grew.

Xi has become China’s most powerful political figure since Mao Zedong, recently securing a norm-breaking third term as Communist Party leader.

An electrical engineer by training who spent his early career in factories, Jiang lacked the revolutionary credentials and prestige of his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping, who tapped him to head a new generation of leaders.

Viewed by many as a transitional figure, Jiang was politically hamstrung in the Tiananmen aftermath.

But after Deng’s tour of booming southern provinces in 1992, Jiang proved an eager champion of his patron’s “reform and opening up” to lift China’s people from poverty.

“Without addressing the problem of (economic survival) first, it would be difficult to achieve any other right,” Jiang said in 1997.

State control over the economy was further dismantled by his premier Zhu Rongji, and foreign ties -- particularly with the United States -- improved significantly.

“It takes two hands to clap,” Jiang said in 2001 of Sino-US ties.

Jiang was the leader of the so-called “third generation” of Chinese communist leaders, a more technocratic and professional ruling elite following the early revolutionaries.

To foreign eyes, the generational shift was huge.

Jiang smashed the stereotype of the stiff communist leader -- with his wide grin, oversized spectacles, grasp of several languages, and sometimes clownish behaviour -- including making jokes in English.

A music lover who played the piano, Jiang was known for bursting into song on foreign trips, including a memorable rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” during a state visit to the Philippines.