Translated by Song Chunling
Dec 19, 2011

News of Kim Jong il's death spread quickly on China's two most popular mircoblogging platforms, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo after the first post was posted at about 11am Beijing time.

Early reports of the death and also video of the announcement made on North Korean television been "re-tweeted" about 19,000 times on Sina Weibo and, as of 2pm Beijing time on Dec 19, there were more than 93,000 posts on the topic.

Xinhua News Agency posted a report just before 3pm this afternoon, also posted to Sina Weibo, which quoted a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing "our heartfelt sorrow" for the untimely death of "Comrade Kim Jong-il," the short report also quoted the spokesperson offering "sincere sympathy" to the North Korean people.

Other sharp-eyed microbloggers have been dicussing CCTV's early coverage of the breaking story, with some suggesting that the state broadcaster had mislabeled footage as being sourced from Korean Central Television, when in fact it appears to be images of protests (including the burning of a North Korean flag) in South Korea.

Many users of these Chinese microblogging platforms also commented on the North Korean leader's death, some expressed concern about the future of North Korea, others shared their thoughts about how his death might effect the lives of the Northern Korean people and others analysed the possible impact of the death on Sino-North Korean relations.

Below we've collected and translated some of these comments:

The chief editor of Global Times (环球时报), Hu Xijin (@胡锡进), commented via his Sina Weibo account that "the stability and future of North Korea will be put to the test. South Korea, the US and Japan will try their best to influence or threaten North Korea. China shouldn't retreat at this critical moment and should try to maintain the special relationship that exists between the two countries, as it concerns the strategic interest of China in Northeast Asia ... "

Other, less well-known commentators also shared their views:

a user with the online named Jiu Jing Zhong Duwr (@酒精中毒wr) wrote that "It's the end of one era and the start of another."

A user with the account name @1s_o7 wonders if "will North Korea also go through a period of reform and opening up in the future and eventually also have Socialism with North Korean characteristics."

Another user called Yuren Feige (@雨人飞哥) - which comes across as something like Rainman, said that "I don't know how far the young third generation of Kims can go!"

Star Magic, - Xing Guang Mo Shu (@星光魔术) - is curious about "What will happen in North Korea in the future? How will relations between North Korea-China change? Will there be reunification on the Korean Peninsula? 2012 is destined to be an interesting year ..."