The death of Zhu Rongji, China’s economic reformer

Credited as a co-engineer of one of the greatest economic reforms in human history, former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji died on August 12, 2026, at the age of 97. We have put together seven stories from the South China Morning Post’s coverage of Zhu’s death. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider

Zhu’s signal accomplishment was steering China into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Zhu Rongji, the impatient, sharp-tongued reformer helped ignite China's explosive economic boom by forcing change on state industry in the 1990s and leading the country into the World Trade Organization, has died at the age of 97.