His Legacy: Meet the Press
For a retired US president, publishing books is part of daily life. But for a Chinese statesman, retirement means to retire from public. Zhu Rongji, former Premier from 1998 to 2003, seemed to break the rule. On September 2, 2009, Zhu Rongji’s Answers to Journalists’ Questions was published in Beijing. 250,000 copies of the first run were sold out that day, and the total distribution volume is expected to a million. In Amazon.cn, it was among the top 5 of the 2009 bestsellers.
In 1993 Zhu was appointed as Deputy Premier and served concurrently as the Governor of the Central Bank. Since then he had been in charge of Chinese economic construction and reform for a decade. During this period, he carried three reforms – reforms on state-owned companies, on financial system and on administrative organization. Zhu gained a worldwide reputation when the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997. He launched a large-scale infrastructure construction project and guaranteed the stabilization of RMB, helping the country even Asia go through the crisis. Japanese business strategist Ohmae Kenichi called Zhu an excellent surgeon.
This book, however, focused on Zhu’s another achievement. He was the first premier to hold press conference after the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress, a pioneering action hailed by media and Chinese people. The book recorded his five press conferences from 1998 to 2003, and also collected 15 speeches he gave in foreign countries and dozens of interviews with overseas journalists, most of which were published for the first time in China.
“As early as when Zhu was in office, we received many calls asking for a book of his press conferences and speeches,” said Huang Shuyuan, president of the People’s Publishing House. But he just obtained his approval about two years ago, and the preparation process was even harder than he could imagine. For a great quantity of names, titles and places’ names, a team of over 30 senior editors did double check one by one and a thorough proofreading. As most of transcripts were rendered in written language, editors had to consult audio or video documents and added particles words to make them like speeches.
Through considerate efforts, a speaker of wisdom and frankness was revived in this book. One of the most remembered interviews was with CNN prime anchor Judy Woodruff on April 14, 1999. Regarding the human rights, a must-ask topic for western journalist, Woodruff asked if China had something to fear from democracy. “I have been spending my lifetime fighting for democracy. So, I don’t see anything about it that I should be afraid of,” Zhu answered tactfully, “We want democracy. We also want rule of law. So of course at wanting democracy you cannot violate the law, but democracy and rule of law should be developed together, side by side concurrently.”
Back then, answering questions from journalists, especially foreign journalists, was regarded a torture for officials, who used to read official statements or say “nothing to say”. But Zhu thought every hard question an opportunity to speak out China’s opinion and promote understanding. “We’re willing to listen to opinions from our foreign friends,” he told Woodruff sincerely, “But, at the same time, you have to bear in mind that we do have the burden of 2,000 years of traditional thinking, and this has affected the psychology of our people. And also bear in mind that the educational level of our population is not comparable to that in the United States.”
Zhu was always ready to answer any question, even some offensive. In a 2002 press conference, an AFP journalist quoted a Hong Kong-based newspaper comment that all Zhu knew was thumping the table, pounding the chair and staring pop-eyed to frighten people. He answered “I never frighten people, I only frighten those corrupted officials.” This answer spread over the country overnight.
Answer every question, and show respect. That may explain why Zhu was so popular among journalists. He specially asked the book editors to change the “you” in honorific form, when journalists addressed him, to “you” in normal form. He obviously preferred an equal communication.
Now Chinese people are getting used to watch press conferences when news broke out since spokesperson system was introduced into government offices in 2003. But most of spokespersons, to tell the truth, were rigid like an official and nervous like a student. They were so rushed to complete their tasks and didn’t have time to show friendliness to questioners. This book must be a perfect textbook for them.
In 1993 Zhu was appointed as Deputy Premier and served concurrently as the Governor of the Central Bank. Since then he had been in charge of Chinese economic construction and reform for a decade. During this period, he carried three reforms – reforms on state-owned companies, on financial system and on administrative organization. Zhu gained a worldwide reputation when the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997. He launched a large-scale infrastructure construction project and guaranteed the stabilization of RMB, helping the country even Asia go through the crisis. Japanese business strategist Ohmae Kenichi called Zhu an excellent surgeon.
This book, however, focused on Zhu’s another achievement. He was the first premier to hold press conference after the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress, a pioneering action hailed by media and Chinese people. The book recorded his five press conferences from 1998 to 2003, and also collected 15 speeches he gave in foreign countries and dozens of interviews with overseas journalists, most of which were published for the first time in China.
“As early as when Zhu was in office, we received many calls asking for a book of his press conferences and speeches,” said Huang Shuyuan, president of the People’s Publishing House. But he just obtained his approval about two years ago, and the preparation process was even harder than he could imagine. For a great quantity of names, titles and places’ names, a team of over 30 senior editors did double check one by one and a thorough proofreading. As most of transcripts were rendered in written language, editors had to consult audio or video documents and added particles words to make them like speeches.
Through considerate efforts, a speaker of wisdom and frankness was revived in this book. One of the most remembered interviews was with CNN prime anchor Judy Woodruff on April 14, 1999. Regarding the human rights, a must-ask topic for western journalist, Woodruff asked if China had something to fear from democracy. “I have been spending my lifetime fighting for democracy. So, I don’t see anything about it that I should be afraid of,” Zhu answered tactfully, “We want democracy. We also want rule of law. So of course at wanting democracy you cannot violate the law, but democracy and rule of law should be developed together, side by side concurrently.”
Back then, answering questions from journalists, especially foreign journalists, was regarded a torture for officials, who used to read official statements or say “nothing to say”. But Zhu thought every hard question an opportunity to speak out China’s opinion and promote understanding. “We’re willing to listen to opinions from our foreign friends,” he told Woodruff sincerely, “But, at the same time, you have to bear in mind that we do have the burden of 2,000 years of traditional thinking, and this has affected the psychology of our people. And also bear in mind that the educational level of our population is not comparable to that in the United States.”
Zhu was always ready to answer any question, even some offensive. In a 2002 press conference, an AFP journalist quoted a Hong Kong-based newspaper comment that all Zhu knew was thumping the table, pounding the chair and staring pop-eyed to frighten people. He answered “I never frighten people, I only frighten those corrupted officials.” This answer spread over the country overnight.
Answer every question, and show respect. That may explain why Zhu was so popular among journalists. He specially asked the book editors to change the “you” in honorific form, when journalists addressed him, to “you” in normal form. He obviously preferred an equal communication.
Now Chinese people are getting used to watch press conferences when news broke out since spokesperson system was introduced into government offices in 2003. But most of spokespersons, to tell the truth, were rigid like an official and nervous like a student. They were so rushed to complete their tasks and didn’t have time to show friendliness to questioners. This book must be a perfect textbook for them.
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