Princeling Hu Deping to head up embattled liberal magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu
Son of late leader Hu Yaobang to head up Yanhuang Chunqiu as publication mounts fightback to retain its editorial independence
An embattled liberal magazine's hopes of survival have risen with the appointment of the son of former party general secretary Hu Yaobang as its new publisher.
The appointment of Hu Deping to oversee outspoken political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu was the publication's first step to fend off official moves to threaten its independence, outgoing publisher Du Daozheng said yesterday.
Du, 91, said that Lu De, son of late vice-premier Lu Dingyi would be the magazine's new deputy publisher and legal representative. Du would become an "honorary publisher".
Yanhuang Chunqiu is backed by retired senior officials and made a name for itself by carrying articles that contest Communist Party versions of contemporary history. It is affiliated with the Association for Yan Huang Culture of China, a social organisation with ties to the culture ministry, but was ordered last month to switch affiliation to a body directly under the ministry's administration, making it more vulnerable to censors.
"Hu and Lu will replace me to deal with the authorities over knotty issues about our magazine's future organisational changes," Du said.
"They will face many difficult dealings with the authorities, but our chance of succeeding is very high because of the magazine's hard-won prestige, strongly support among many retired senior officials as well as our 135,000-odd subscribers."