Jiang Zemin, former president of China, appeared in the front line of the nation’s political leadership at a ceremony on Sunday, quashing rumours that he was dead or dying.
Mr Jiang sat between the country’s two top leaders, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, at a commemoration of the 1911 Revolution, which marked the end of more than two thousand years of dynastic rule and led to the eventual rise of the Communist party.
Mr Jiang’s prominent presence in state television reports about the event came just three months after Hong Kong media said he had died and others reported that he was critically ill. Mouthing the words to the national anthem, following the speeches and waving to the crowd with a smile, Mr Jiang, seemed alert but at times also tired.