Will Jiang Zemin Get a State Funeral in China?

Jiang Zemin, China's former leader who died Wednesday at age 96, is all but certain to receive a grand state funeral after being eulogized by the country's leadership.

In a lengthy obituary sent to all 96 million members, China's long-ruling Communist Party said Jiang was "an outstanding leader enjoying high prestige" and "an outstanding leader of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Jiang's death was "an incalculable loss," the party said in a statement carried by China's official Xinhua News Agency, which said he died of leukemia-related complications in Shanghai at 12:13 p.m. local time.

Later in the day, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) formed a funeral committee, which is expected to oversee the coming weeks of public mourning and the eventual official send-off. It's chaired by President Xi Jinping and comprises all of China's political elite, according to a list published by Xinhua.

The group's first order of business was to announce the flying of flags at half-staff at all official venues, government buildings, Chinese embassies and consulates, as well as liaison offices in Hong Kong and Macau, to "express the incomparable esteem and profound mourning of the whole party, the entire military and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups for Comrade Jiang Zemin," the statement said.

The flags would remain at half-staff until the holding of a "memorial meeting," the committee said. A date for the event has yet to be announced.

"In accordance with China's practice, foreign governments, political parties and friendly personages will not be invited to send delegations or representatives to China to attend the mourning activities," the committee said.

Chinese state news websites turned black and white on Wednesday to mark the passing of Jiang, who had the CCP's top job from 1989 to 2002, led the Chinese military between 1989 and 2004, and held China's presidency from 1993 to 2003.

Although not without his human rights controversies, Jiang was viewed as a transformational figure who steered China through a period of domestic and international turmoil after his predecessor, Zhao Ziyang, was ousted by the party leadership in June of 1989 for sympathizing with the student protesters who demanded democratic reforms in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere.

Jiang continued the market-economy policies of reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, contributing to the country's rise to world's No. 2 economy in 2010.

The party's eulogy for Jiang pointed to his venerated status among the leadership's hierarchy, but he's not expected to receive a state funeral on the same scale as those offered to Deng or Mao Zedong.

The CCP places special emphasis on the funerals of China's former leaders, whose memorials—or lack thereof—are a sign of whether their ideologies aligned with those currently championed by the party.

Zhao, the deposed former party chief, wasn't accorded funeral rights after his death in 2005.