
FOR nearly two decades, the Communist Party strove to wipe out the national memory of Zhao Ziyang, the reform-minded party secretary who opposed the use of force against pro-democracy protesters in 1989. So when a former aide of Mr. Zhao's, Du Daozheng, disclosed in May that he had helped secretly record Mr. Zhao's memoir for posthumous...
On the making of Zhao Ziyang's memoir: The English title is 'Prisoner of the State.' I wrote the preface for the Chinese version...The book was written based on the narration recorded by Zhao. It involved two parts, first was recording his remarks, the second was taking transcription from the tape. I was not familiar with the transcription part of...

To prepare for the National Day holiday, retailers here have been stocking up on merchandise like designer bags, gold jewelry -- and banned books. Big downtown bookstores and airport kiosks alike carry paperbacks detailing the latest gossip about Communist Party cadres. More serious fare can be found at the city's tiny ''upstairs'' political...