Source:
HuffPost WorldBEIJING -- Rumors that retired Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was dead or dying raced through China's Internet on Wednesday, sending censors into overdrive to excise them and in turn spurring people to craft ever more cryptic and inventive postings.
Searches for "Jiang Zemin" in Chinese or simply "Jiang" – which means "river" – drew warnings on Sina Corp.'s popular Twitter-like service that said the search was illegal. In response posts began appearing about former leader "River" in English.
The Internet cat-and-mouse game over the possible death of a former leader underscores how secretive China's Communist Party leadership remains – and the difficulties of maintaining that secrecy in a well-wired society.
Rumors about the 84-year-old Jiang's ill health have percolated for months and resurfaced anew after he did not appear at Friday's celebration for the 90th anniversary of the party's founding. Other current and former leaders – a 94-year-old revolutionary veteran among them – were shown by state media in prominent attendance in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/06/jiang-zemin-dead-local-ce_n_891091.htmlHuffpost World
President Hu and Prime Minister Wen are to be replaced soon, as well. The names of their successors are already known: You can google them.