China to lower flags at half-mast for late top legislator Qiao Shi

BEIJING -- China will hang flags at half-mast to mourn Qiao Shi, former chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, who died in Beijing at 7:08 am on Sunday.

His remains will be cremated on Friday in Beijing. Flags will be lowered to half-mast at Tian'anmen Square, and Xinhuamen, the main entrance of Zhongnanhai, the seat of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the central government.

National flags at half-mast will also be seen at the Great Hall of the People, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seats of the provincial-level governments, Hong Kong and Macao, border ports as well as overseas embassies and consulates.

Qiao, 91, was extolled in a statement from the CPC Central Committee as an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, and an outstanding proletarian revolutionist, statesman and leader of the Party and the state.