China

Plainclothes and uniformed police lined the roadway leading to the funeral home, blocking traffic and telling people to move along while watching for the presence of unofficial or foreign media.

Public tributes to Li have been strictly controlled as the government seeks to prevent a mass outpouring of grief that it regards as a possible trigger for social unrest.

But despite censorship targeting “overly effusive” comments and gatherings, in Li’s home city of Hefei, in Anhui province, hundreds of mourners laid flowers for one of their most significant sons over the weekend.