In this file photo taken on Oct. 20, 2015, Queen Elizabeth hosts a state banquet for Chinese President Xi Jinping at Buckingham Palace.DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to King Charles on Friday expressing “deep condolences over the death of Queen Elizabeth II.”
According to state media, Mr. Xi noted that the Queen was the first British monarch to visit China and “won wide acclaim” during her reign. “Her death is a great loss to the British people,” he added.
Did you meet Queen Elizabeth during her reign? Share your memory of the late monarch
The Queen met with four Chinese leaders, beginning with Deng Xiaoping in 1986 during a trip across China on which she toured the Great Wall and visited the terracotta warriors of Xi’an.
At Buckingham Palace, she hosted each of Mr. Deng’s successors – Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Mr. Xi. A photo from a state dinner in 2015 shows her and Mr. Xi clinking glasses and the Queen smiling broadly, though months later she was caught by a hot mic complaining that Chinese officials had been “very rude,” storming out of a meeting with the British ambassador.
Many on Chinese social media spoke fondly of the Queen, saying she promoted close ties between the two countries. She was also mourned Friday in Hong Kong, which was a British colony until 1997, when it was handed over to China in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles.
In a statement, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said, “It is with great sadness that I express our profound condolences on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.”
He added, “She was greatly respected, admired and praised by the British people.”
A book of condolences was opened for people to sign at the British consulate Friday, and mourners laid flowers outside.
The Queen first visited Hong Kong in 1975, when the South China Morning Post, the local English-language daily, honoured the occasion with its first colour front page, the headline blaring, “Welcome, Your Majesty!”
“To the boom of welcoming naval guns firing a Royal salute and the skirl of Gurkha pipers, the Queen was welcomed to Hong Kong as she sailed across the Fragrant Harbour,” the paper reported. “Hundreds of hands waved in the air in the hope they would receive a Royal wave in return.”
She visited again in 1986, two years after negotiations were finalized for the city to be transferred to Chinese rule. The Queen is still remembered fondly in Hong Kong, seen as a symbol of the greater optimism – and in some cases, greater freedom – experienced by many during British rule.
Dennis Kwok, a former Hong Kong lawmaker now living in exile in Canada, posted a photo of the Queen’s 1975 visit on Twitter, noting her “warmth.”
“No police and no barricades, just the Queen. Hong Kong people will remember,” he wrote. “Thank you.”
Nathan Law, another exiled lawmaker, wrote from the U.K. that the Queen was “loved by millions” in Hong Kong.
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