ad info




TIME Asia
TIME Asia Home
Current Issue
Magazine Archive
Asia Buzz
Travel Watch
Web Features
  Entertainment
  Photo Essays

Subscribe to TIME
Customer Services
About Us
Write to TIME Asia

TIME.com
TIME Canada
TIME Europe
TIME Pacific
TIME Digital
Asiaweek
Latest CNN News

Young China
Olympics 2000
On The Road

 ASIAWEEK.COM
 CNN.COM
  east asia
  southeast asia
  south asia
  central asia
  australasia
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 SHOWBIZ
 ASIA WEATHER
 ASIA TRAVEL


Other News
From TIME Asia

Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful
The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol

Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free?
Web heads want it all -- for nothing

JAPAN: Failed Revolution
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion

Cover: Endgame?
After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election

TIME Digest
FORTUNE.com
FORTUNE China
MONEY.com

TIME Asia Services
Subscribe
Subscribe to TIME! Get up to 3 MONTHS FREE!

Bookmark TIME
TIME Media Kit
Recent awards

TIME Asia Asiaweek Asia Now TIME Asia story
ASIA
NOVEMBER 2, 1998 VOL. 152 NO. 17


When This Critic Speaks, Even the Government Listens
By TERRY McCARTHY

When He Qinglian set out to write a denunciation of China's economic reforms and the systemic corruption they have given rise to, she never thought it would be published at home. Anger at the growing iniquity of Chinese society and what she sees as the wholesale looting of state-owned assets by corrupt cadres drove the 42-year-old economics graduate of Shanghai's Fudan University to complete her book. But after being turned down by nine publishing houses in China, she finally settled for a Hong Kong publisher--and resigned herself to being ignored on the mainland.

Unknown to her, the manuscript was passed by a friend to the China Today Press in Beijing, whose chief adviser, Liu Ji, just happens to be vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and, more importantly, a key adviser to President Jiang Zemin. Liu, who quickly saw the book as a tool in the leadership's campaign against corruption, extolled it as a "masterpiece." Suddenly the obscure writer living in southern China's freewheeling Shenzhen special economic zone ("the best city to learn about the vices caused by the reforms," says He) was in the big league. He's book, The Pitfalls of Modernization, was published in Beijing in February. In August she was summoned to the capital to address a government-sponsored conference on corruption. "Liu told me three times, 'Tell me if you have problems ... remember that you have a friend in Beijing who can help you.'"

With such an eminent protector, He has become something of a celebrity in China and is regularly interviewed by the local media. Her book has become a surprise best-seller, provincial officials in Shandong and Guangdong have bought copies for their staffs, publishers eager to cash in on her name have put it on books she hasn't written. He receives so much mail from readers that even her local postman knows who she is. "If there are letters with my name but the wrong address, he still knows where to deliver them," says He, who is married to a construction company executive and has a five-year-old son.

Even with her backing, it's surprising to many that He gets away with her frankness. She says she was careful not to identify corrupt officials by name unless their cases had already been in the newspapers--"I didn't use half of my research material"--and her book goes to some lengths to praise the country's top leadership. But she doesn't pull any punches on the corrosive effects of the get-rich-quick mentality that she says is leading to growing resentment among the have-nots.

On a scale of one to 10, how worried is He about China's future? "Ten out of 10," she says. "If prompt action is not taken, the country could collapse into chaos." A collection of He's essays is due to be published in November, and she plans to start work on another book about China's economy next year. This time she'll have her pick of publishers.

Reported by Isabella Ng/Shenzhen

R E L A T E D
S T O R I E S :

BURNED BY THE SUN
Fear of unrest forces Beijing to scale back high-flying Premier Zhu Rongji's ambitious plans for reform





This edition's table of contents | TIME Asia home

AsiaNow


   LATEST HEADLINES:

WASHINGTON
U.S. secretary of state says China should be 'tolerant'

MANILA
Philippine government denies Estrada's claim to presidency

ALLAHABAD
Faith, madness, magic mix at sacred Hindu festival

COLOMBO
Land mine explosion kills 11 Sri Lankan soldiers

TOKYO
Japan claims StarLink found in U.S. corn sample

BANGKOK
Thai party announces first coalition partner



TIME:

COVER: President Joseph Estrada gives in to the chanting crowds on the streets of Manila and agrees to make room for his Vice President

THAILAND: Twin teenage warriors turn themselves in to Bangkok officials

CHINA: Despite official vilification, hip Chinese dig Lamaist culture

PHOTO ESSAY: Estrada Calls Snap Election

WEB-ONLY INTERVIEW: Jimmy Lai on feeling lucky -- and why he's committed to the island state



ASIAWEEK:

COVER: The DoCoMo generation - Japan's leading mobile phone company goes global

Bandwidth Boom: Racing to wire - how underseas cable systems may yet fall short

TAIWAN: Party intrigues add to Chen Shui-bian's woes

JAPAN: Japan's ruling party crushes a rebel ì at a cost

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to have more babies. But success breeds selfishness


Launch CNN's Desktop Ticker and get the latest news, delivered right on your desktop!

Today on CNN
 Search

Back to the top   © 2000 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.