CHINA'S economics czar Zhu Rongji reportedly loves to tell the joke that if he orders 10 coffins, nine will be for those he is after and one for himself.
The remarkably blunt man - or 'One-chop Zhu' as he is known in Shanghai - would have loved to bury Chinese state bankers and corrupt government officials who fail to live up to his expectations.
He also expects to be buried in return by his enemies.
His list of enemies grew last week when he made what could be his parting shot as head of the central bank to Chinese bankers: shape up the state banks or ship out.
Admirers said it was precisely his decisiveness and no-nonsense approach to business and economics that helped steady the chaotic economy he inherited in mid-1993 and steer the archaic banking system towards a modern and commercial structure.
By clamping down on new fixed-asset investments and credit, he gradually managed to rein in the overheated economy and produce the soft landing few thought he could.