中国人哀悼李克强，也哀悼一个希望尚存的时代
Chinese Mourn the Death of a Premier, and the Loss of Economic Hope
They posted videos on social media of the time he promised that China would remain open to the outside world. They shared photos of him, standing in ankle-deep mud, visiting victims of a flood. They even noted the economic growth target for the first year of his premiership: 7.5 percent.
人们在社交媒体上发布他承诺中国将继续向世界开放的视频。他们分享他站在没过脚踝的泥泞中探望洪水灾民的照片。他们甚至提到他担任总理第一年时的经济增长目标：7.5%。
The death Friday of Li Keqiang, 68, prompted spontaneous mourning online. Mr. Li served as premier, China’s No. 2 official, for a decade until last March.
周五，68岁的李克强去世，引起了网民的自发哀悼。李克强担任总理长达十年，是中国的“二把手”，直至今年3月。
Among many Chinese, Mr. Li’s death produced a swell of nostalgia for what he represented: a time of greater economic possibility and openness to private business. The reaction was jarring and showed the dissatisfaction in China with the leadership of Xi Jinping, China’s hard-line leader who grabbed an unprecedented third term in office last year after maneuvering to have the longstanding limit of two terms abolished.
在许多中国人当中，李克强的去世激起了对他所代表的那个时代的怀念：那是一个经济前景更好、对私营企业更开明的时代。这样的反应显得极为刺目，表明了中国国内对习近平领导的不满。去年，这位强硬派领导人在设法废除了长期以来的两届任期限制后，史无前例地获得了第三个任期。
In post after post on social media, people praised Mr. Li more for what he stood for and said than for what he was able to accomplish under Mr. Xi, who drove economic policymaking during Mr. Li’s period in office.
社交媒体上一条又一条的发言中，人们更多赞扬的是李克强的主张和言论，而不是他在习近平领导下做出的政绩。在李克强任总理期间，推动经济政策制定的人是习近平。
Mr. Li was possibly the least powerful premier in the history of the People’s Republic of China. The grief over his passing reflected the public’s sense of loss for an era of reform and growth that has been abandoned, and their deep sense of powerlessness in the China of Mr. Xi, the most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.
李克强可能是中华人民共和国历史上权力最小的总理。他的逝世所引发的悲痛反映了公众对一个已被抛弃的改革与增长时代的失落情绪，以及生活在毛泽东以来作风最专制的领导人习近平治下的中国，人们所感受到的深切无力。
A post that was widely circulated on several social media sites said that many Chinese people saw themselves in Mr. Li — people “who have struggled over the past decade but have gradually lost ground.”
在多家社交媒体网站上广泛流传的一篇文章称，许多中国人在李克强身上看到了自己——“十年间苦苦支撑却节节败退”。
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The most widely shared posts are short videos of Mr. Li promising that China’s door to the outside world would remain open: “Just like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River can’t flow backward.” Some of the videos were deleted later or couldn’t be shared after China’s censorship impulse kicked in.
被分享最多的内容是李克强承诺中国对外开放的大门将继续敞开的短视频：“黄河长江不会倒流。”在中国的审查机器开动后，部分视频随后被删除或无法转发。
On the social media platform Weibo, many posts that expressed shock over the suddenness of his death were censored. So were comments that referred to him as “a good premier for the people” and “a great man.” The comments that were allowed mostly went along the line of “rest in peace.”
在社交媒体平台微博上，许多对他的突然离世表示震惊的帖子都遭到审查。称他为“人民的好总理”和“伟人”的评论也不能幸免。被允许发表的评论基本都是“安息吧”。
For many people in China, Mr. Li’s death unleashed pent-up frustration, anger and anxiety about what they see as Mr. Xi’s mishandling of the economy. Mr. Xi went after the private sector, undermining some of China’s most successful companies. He alienated some of China’s biggest trading partners and got closer to countries like Russia, while replacing reform-minded leaders with loyalists. Mr. Xi turned the government’s focus more on ideology than the economy.
对许多中国人来说，李克强的去世让他们得以释放压抑已久的沮丧、愤怒和焦虑，这样的情绪源于他们认为习近平对经济处理不当。习近平打击私营部门，破坏了中国部分最成功企业的发展。他疏远了中国一些最大的贸易伙伴，并和俄罗斯等国家走得更近，同时还用忠于他的人换下了具有改革意识的领导人。习近平将政府重心更多转向意识形态而非经济。
For them, Mr. Li, who had degrees in law and economics, represented the pragmatic technocrats who led the country out of poverty in the 1990s and 2000s. They recited his opening remarks in his first news conference in 2013 after becoming the premier.
对这些中国人来说，拥有法律和经济学学位的李克强代表了上世纪90年代和本世纪初带领国家走出贫困的务实派技术官僚。他们复述了李克强2013年上任总理后，在首场新闻发布会上的开场白。
“We will be loyal to the constitution, faithful to the people, and take the people’s wishes as the direction of our governance,” Mr. Li had said.
“我们将忠诚于宪法，忠实于人民，以民之所望为施政所向，”李克强这样说。
In commenting on his death, people said they couldn’t believe that the national growth target then was 7.5 percent. China’s economy fell short of its 5.5 percent target in 2022 and many analysts believe will miss less ambitious goals this year.
人们在感慨他的死讯时表示，他们不敢相信当时国家的经济增长目标是7.5%。2022年，中国未能实现5.5%的经济增长目标；今年的目标没那么高，但许多专家也认为不太可能达成。
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They recited Mr. Li’s most famous quotes: “Power must not be arbitrary” and “It’s harder to touch interests than souls.”
人们还列出了李克强最著名的发言：“有权不可任性”和“触动利益比触及灵魂还难”。
Quite a few business owners and investors shared photos of themselves with Mr. Li, who was a champion for entrepreneurship and innovation, when he visited their companies. They reminisced about the government encouraging new products and new business models, calling those the golden days of the entrepreneurship. “He left us suddenly,” wrote an internet businessman surnamed Ding. “And he took the golden age with him.”
李克强一向大力倡导创业和创新，许多企业主和投资人都晒出了李克强在参观他们企业时留下的合影。他们怀念政府鼓励新产品和新商业模式的情景，称那是创业的黄金时代。“他就这样突然离开了我们，”一位丁姓互联网商人写道。“顺道带走的还有那黄金十年。”
They posted photos of him visiting Wuhan in January 2020 when Covid rampaged the city. Mr. Xi didn’t visit until nearly two months later after the initial spread of the virus had been contained. They posted photos of Mr. Li visiting the victims of flooding and earthquakes. Mr. Xi is known for staying away from the scenes of disasters.
他们贴出了他在2020年1月新冠病毒肆虐武汉之时访问这座城市的照片。直到近两个月后最初的疫情已得到遏制，习近平才姗姗来迟。他们贴出了李克强探望洪水和地震灾民的照片。习近平远离受灾现场的作风众所皆知。
They also shared a set of photos of Mr. Li chatting amicably with other government leaders, contrasting those scenes with Mr. Xi’s bossy body language when appearing with his associates.
Some people expressed their gratitude for Mr. Li’s honesty when, at a news conference in 2020, he noted that China might be the world’s second biggest economy, but there were 600 million people with a monthly income of $150. It was viewed as poking a hole in Mr. Xi’s claim of beating poverty.
有人感谢李克强的坦诚，他曾在2020年的一场新闻发布会上指出，中国虽是全球第二大经济体，但还有6亿人的月收入不到1000元。这番表态被认为戳穿了对习近平关于全面脱贫的宣言。
“There are no perfect people, and there are no perfect politicians,” wrote a former journalist who goes by Yan Xiaoyun. “People should not forget Premier Li’s courage to uncover the truth.”
“没有完美的人，没有完美的政治家，”一位名叫严晓云（音）的前记者写道。“但人们不应忘记他捅破真相的勇气。”
The public’s response Friday was the most significant outpouring of emotion since the White Paper movement last November, when thousands of Chinese in multiple cities went into the streets to protest the country’s harsh “zero Covid” policies and many more people joined the outcry online.
公众在周五的反应是自去年11月的“白纸运动”以来最为激烈的情绪宣泄，当时许多城市里数以千计的中国人走上街头，抗议政府严厉的“清零”政策，还有更多的人加入了网络抗议。
Deaths of senior leaders are always sensitive occasions in Chinese politics. Some journalists and commentators speculated whether Mr. Li’s death might stir a protest like the one in 1989 after Hu Yaobang, the sidelined former head of the Chinese Communist Party, died of a sudden heart attack. Most people concluded it probably would not since Mr. Xi controls the internet tightly. People speculated that Mr. Li would probably not be accorded a high-profile funeral like the one Mr. Hu got.
高层领导人的去世一直都是中国政坛的敏感事件。有记者和评论人士猜测，李克强的去世，是否会像1989年失势的前中共领导人胡耀邦因心脏病突发去世后那样，引发抗议活动。大多数人都认为应该不会，因为习近平对互联网的管控非常严格。人们推测李克强的葬礼应该不会像胡耀邦那样高调。
In contrast to the outpouring of grief from the public, China’s official media initially downplayed Mr. Li’s death. A 100-word announcement was listed as the third or fourth top item news on all major news websites, behind Mr. Xi’s meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California or Mr. Xi’s new book on civil affairs work.
与公众的悲痛相反，中国官方媒体起初淡化了李克强的死讯。各大新闻网站只把不到百字的公告放在了第三或第四大新闻的位置，排在习近平会见加州州长加文·纽森，或习近平推出指导民政工作的新书之后。
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That low-key treatment resonated with people online because it reflected what they saw as Mr. Xi’s humiliating and disdainful treatment of Mr. Li, even after his death.
这样的低调处理引发了网民热议，因为它反应了他们眼中习近平对李克强一贯的羞辱和蔑视，哪怕在他去世后也是如此。
“He lived in frustration and died in resentment,” a Chinese journalist told me. “But aren’t we all like that?”
“活得郁闷，死得憋屈，”一位中国记者告诉我。“我们不都这样吗？”
