A man reads the new book by former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji at a book store in Shanghai on August 12. Photo: IC

A launch ceremony of former premier Zhu Rongji's book Records of Zhu Rongji's Talks in Shanghai is held in Beijing. Photo: Courtesy of the People's Publishing House

Former Chinese leaders usually stay out of the limelight when they step down from office. Unlike Western statesmen, who often play an active role within their party or as senior parliamentarians after retirement, China's retired elites keep offstage.

So when former president Jiang Zemin, former premier Li Peng, and Li's successor Zhu Rongji all had new books published in August one after another, the move raised eyebrows about what messages the political elders wanted to send out.

Much of the content, including their talks, letters, and notes the decision-making process, is previously unpublished. That's why the books rapidly hit the bestseller list.

Just as Zhu spoke in a videotaped  English speech at the launch event of the English edition of Zhu Rongji on the Record: The Road to Reform 1991-1997, which went on sale in the US early this month, "Most of the content will be new to all of you, because they have never been published."

Except first disclosure of his life and family after retirement, the 464-page book mainly collected his speeches, articles, letters and instructions when he was vice premier and premier of China from 1991 to 2003.

"This was a critical period in China's reform and development, and this book is a record of this historical process," Zhu stated.

Hot items

There has been an increasing number of high-ranking retired officials picking up their pens to set down their memoirs and thoughts in recent years.

"These books have historical value. Readers can learn about former leaders' decision-making process, problem-solving methodology and their leadership style through these books," Ren Chao, executive deputy president of the People's Publishing House, the country's most authoritative publisher of political books, told the Global Times.

"That means the country is becoming more open and transparent," he noted.

According to Guangdong-based Southern Metropolis Weekly, since the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 1992, 19 members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the country's' most powerful decision-making body, have retired. Save for two that have died, and seven who only retired recently, the rest have all written at least one book.

Among them former premier Li Peng tops the list with 10 works, followed by former president Jiang Zemin and former vice premier Li Lanqing, each of whom has published six books.

"We are expecting more former leaders to release their books, and readers will eventually get used to it," Ren continued.

Each official has his own style, Ren explained. For example, the latest book released by Jiang Zemin, who was president from 1993-2003, is a collection of historical photographs from his hometown Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. Former premier Zhu Rongji's latest book, Records of Zhu Rongji's Talks in Shanghai, is a collection of speeches and letters from his time as the mayor of Shanghai and the municipality's Party chief between December 1987 and April 1991. The book Xianlai Bitan, translated as Leisure Essays, written by Wu Guanzheng who served as the Party's anti-corruption chief between 2002 and 2007, is a collection of memoirs and essays about his childhood and work life, as well as short stories.

A survey conducted by cnfol.com, a Fujian-based news portal for financial advisers, in August showed that over 60 percent of respondents said they are interested in reading these books and another 41 percent believed the elder statesmen may be attempting to influence political affairs through the publication of such works.

Practical value

Fu Siming, a professor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that even though the books mainly talk about the past, they still have realistic value today.

"For example, Zhu's discussions of about Party's work style in his book is thought-provoking and inspiring as China is now launching a campaign against harmful work style to improve Party-people relations," Fu said.

Fu said the most impressive political book he has ever read is Perception and Expression written by Li Ruihuan, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1993 to 2003, in which Li talked about economic, political, social issues and his personal experience from being a local official to a political advisor.

However, Fu sees some improvement in some of the former officials' books. "Some memoirs are heavily focused on success and light on failure," Fu said. "It will be more valuable if they can talk more about the lessons they learned through mistakes."

Wu's book reportedly sold out 30,000 copies in one week, and Zhu's new book sold out 650,000 copies in a month, comparable to his first book Zhu Rongji Meets the Press, published in 2009, that has sold over 1 million copies so far.

Many officials donated the money from book sales to charity. For example, Li Peng donated 3 million yuan ($490,000) to a scholarship for poor students in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, where the Party's was based during the war years.

Zhu has made it clear that he would not put a penny of the millions of yuan of book sales into his own pocket, all the profit would be donated to charity.

Ren said the reason why Zhu's book is a hot ticket item lies in his reputation of being outgoing and straight-talking. He was nicknamed the "iron-faced premier" by Chinese netizens for his tough stance in the fight against corruption. Many people are curious about what he wants to say in his books.

Like many other high-level officials, Zhu has been avoiding the spotlight for years after his retirement. He doesn't attend any press conference or have book sign event. On September 9, the 84-year-old man made a rare public appearance with a videotaped speech at the launch of his book in New York.

Readers' reactions

Ren explained that Zhu is more concerned about what readers can learn from reading his book rather than book sales.

Huang Shuai, a post-graduate student at the University of Macau, says reading Zhu's books help him better understand China.

"Unlike some political books that are full of official documents and empty phrases, Zhu's books bring officials closer to ordinary people. You can see his determination of getting things done through his talks and thoughts," Huang told the Global Times.

The most impressive part of the book is his accomplishment in dismantling some of the country's State-owned enterprises, Huang said.

"Many people could not understand why he did that at that time. Now looking back, many believe he did the right thing," Huang continued.

For many officials, Zhu's book is a must-read to study his leadership style, Zhang Zhiwen, a government official in Henan Province, told the Global Times.

"Zhu has a reputation of having things down. This is what government officials should learn from him about how to do their work and how to connect with people," Zhang said.

In Zhu's book, he gave an example of how government officials should learn from the people. He wrote that one day they received a letter from a Shanghai resident, suggesting English should be added to the road signs. Zhu thought it a good idea and then got it done immediately.

Frank accounts

There has been some speculations about how much of the contents have been removed or added before publishing. But Zhu made it clear in the video that he had not added "a single word" to the original materials because he wants this book to accurately record history as it happened.

It was the editors at the People's Publishing House that collected the original materials and then selected about 1.2 million words from original 15 million words.

The standards are: There is no repeated content in every speech and the things Zhu talked about should be relevant to what is happening nowadays, Ren explained.

The work of collecting materials of his talks began after his retirement in 2003. Dozens of editors at the publishing house spent six years collecting and editing the original materials from public records.

Even though Zhu did not actually participate in editing, he asked to read every speech and make sure it is actually what he said. Zhu also wrote the book title himself and changed the book cover from a serious picture of him to a smiling one, Ren said.

After editing and proofreading, 1,000 copies were sent to top officials, experts, and people who worked with Zhu, as well as the General Administration of Press and Publication, to take suggestions and feedback.

"The process went smoothly without any trouble," Ren said.

Ren says a month before Zhu's latest book was released, Zhu asked to add a speech he made in Shanghai in 1991 about the importance of street community as the last speech of his new book. However, Zhu did not give the reason.

Ren still has some regrets. "Even though I have spent years editing Zhu's books, I have never met him in person," he said.

Zhao Jingshu contributed to this story