PoliticsLooking back at China’s 1990s reforms and the legacy of the ‘Jiang-Zhu era’

Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji died in Beijing on Aug. 12, 2026, aged 98, just days before Jiang Zemin’s 100th birthday. As China holds high-profile commemorations for Jiang, attention has returned to the 1990s reforms, the “Jiang-Zhu era” and its political legacy, including whether their deaths mark the end of China’s reform period.