Rules broken to publish Deng's seminal address

A newspaper's bold decision to carry without authorisation from the leadership in Beijing a speech made by Deng Xiaoping in Shenzhen during his southern tour 20 years ago was made possible by a local publicity official who overcame enormous pressure, a recently published book says.

Wrong route

To mark the 20th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's southern tour, both Xinhua and the People's Daily published commentaries to push for reforms. Xinhua said if China wants to keep writing its 'Story of Spring', it must deepen its reform efforts, including changing the government's roles and functions.

Better late than never for a stirring echo from the past

Official media don't usually mess up important dates. So, why was Deng Xiaoping's call for reform in Shenzhen in January 20 years ago being remembered so fondly last week?

Maybe some media managers wanted to time the activities for closer to the annual session of the National People's Congress, which starts in Beijing in a week.

Profile of Zhao Ziyang disappears from internet site

A profile of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party chief purged in the wake of the June 4 crackdown 22 years ago, has disappeared from Baidu Baike, a web-based encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia, after just two days.

Internet users discovered that Zhao's profile, which first appeared on Monday night, was blocked by internet censors on Wednesday morning.

Liberals on rise, in words if not deeds

A commentary in the People's Daily yesterday urged authorities to be willing to take risks and face opposition when launching bold reforms.

Firmly grounded

The American media reacted positively to Vice-President Xi Jinping's official visit to the US. Indeed, Xi's first major performance on the world stage has been impressive not only because he demonstrated the personable side of China's top leaders, a rare occurrence, but also because he stood firm and made clear China's position on key issues that have plagued Sino-US relations.

Proliferation of locusts in anti-migrant campaigns

Hong Kong's locust imagery may be catching on. Soon after the advert appeared in the city likening mainland tourists to the swarming pest, locust images popped up in some of the mainland's biggest cities as part of campaigns against migrants.

Anniversary of Deng's tour hits the news

Guangdong media began a belated campaign yesterday to commemorate the famous southern tour of Deng Xiaoping in 1992.

But the timing of the stories, which come weeks after the 20th anniversary of the late leader setting off on his trip, has raised eyebrows.

Closed doors to reform

It has been 20 years since late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping headed to southern China for a month-long trip that was largely seen as a turning point for the Communist Party.

Back then the party was mired in political, economic and diplomatic crises in the aftermath of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

New leaders must seize the moment

Anywhere else but the mainland, a fall of one tenth of 1 per cent in the proportion of the population that is of working age - from 74.5 per cent to 74.4 per cent - might cause little concern. But it should to China's leaders. It marks the beginning of the end of what economists call the country's population dividend - an abundant supply of cheap labour to drive economic growth.

Private enterprise spreads its net unevenly

One of Deng Xiaoping's most famous quotes on his historic southern tour 20 years ago was: 'Only development counts.'

It gave a green light to all forms of development, and in particular to private enterprise.

The then-and-now of Deng's historic visit

For 27-year-old Shenzhen fashion editor Xu Fei, Hong Kong seems closer than ever after the region expanded its automated immigration programme this month to allow about 560,000 mainland visitors to bypass counters and interviews by border officers.