Plucked from obscurity to head China's ruling Communist Party after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin was expected to be just another transitional figurehead, destined to be a footnote in history.
Yet Jiang, who died on Wednesday aged 96, confounded the naysayers, chalking up a list of achievements after breaking China out of diplomatic isolation in the post-Tiananmen era, mending fences with the United States and overseeing an unprecedented economic boom.
More significant probably was his "Three Represents", a progressive theory with a puzzling name, which helped shape modern China by inviting entrepreneurs - once hounded as the running dogs of capitalism - to join the party. "Jiang Zemin was more ready to be natural, even though sometimes it could be perceived as vulgar, not very sophisticated."
Zealous for neighbouring, self-ruled Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty, Jiang menaced the island with war games and missile tests in the run-up to its first direct presidential election in 1996, souring bilateral relations for more than a decade."American poet Longfellow once wrote, 'But to act that each tomorrow finds us farther than today ... Act, act in the living present'," he told then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, speaking in English.
He presided over year after year of spectacular growth, but the wealth gap widened, corruption worsened and social unrest grew, forcing his successor, Hu, to champion the have-nots of society.
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