Spreading Tinder over Dry Scrub 
John Gittings
- One China, Many Paths edited by Wang Chaohua
The newsagent at the end of my lane in Shanghai always sold out of Nanfang Zhoumo (‘Southern Weekend’) within hours. For those reporting on China, this famous – and to the Communist Party leadership, maddening – investigative weekly published in Guangzhou was, and still is, essential reading. One week it might contain a serious discussion on the death penalty, the next a critique of the restrictions imposed on migrant workers, or an exposé of the penetration of the China market by US agribusiness. None of these topics is explicitly forbidden, but they are all sensitive subjects that the Communist Party prefers not to air.
Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is available for purchase online. Buy this article.
John Gittings first visited China during the Cultural Revolution and was the Guardian China specialist from 1983 to 2003. He is now a research associate at the Centre of Chinese Studies at SOAS.
print layout
tell a friend