Jiang Zemin on the bestseller list

Posted By Aditya Dasgupta Thursday, August 10, 2006 - 1:37 PM Share

Jiang Zemin Book Two years after his retirement, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin is putting his political legacy into print with the Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, released today in bookstores across China. The anthology of speeches and writings, published by a printing arm of the Chinese government, is one of the Communist Party of China's highest accolades; only CPC icons Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping have had their selected works published before.

It's pretty dense stuff - uncontroversial and over a thousand pages long. Nonetheless, the books are flying off the shelves. Why? In usual Chinese state-sponsored fashion, purchases will be compulsory in many government institutions. Sales are also expected to be strong (and sometimes mandatory) among members of China's expansive military. And of course, there's no shortage of nationalism among Chinese readers. But topping the bestseller list may not be the only thing on Jiang's mind. Some analysts think he may be using the book to reestablish his political clout in the run-up to an important CPC Congress next year.

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