A new book looks behind Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign
And shows that princelings are still exempt
THE CALL from China came in the early morning. Desmond Shum, a former tycoon now living in the West, heard the voice of his ex-wife, Duan Weihong, for the first time in four years. Ms Duan vanished in Beijing in September 2017, shortly after Communist Party anti-corruption investigators came for a patron of hers, a young member of the Politburo once seen as a successor to the supreme leader, President Xi Jinping.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “For the few, not the many”
From the September 11th 2021 edition
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China’s propagandists preach defiance in the trade war with America
The public seems on board, for now
Chinese officials are encouraging office workers not to work so hard
More free time means more consumption, they hope
China hawks are losing influence in Trumpworld, despite the trade war
“Restrainers” are taking over from “primacists”
Why are Chinese soldiers fighting in Ukraine?
They have been showing up on both sides of the battlefield throughout the war
China’s shoemakers seem more sanguine than its politicians
A trade war will cause a lot of damage, but many have weathered storms before
To secure exports to Europe, China reconfigures its rail links
A new line will bypass its best friend, Russia