On paper, Li Yuanjiang is a success story

Whatever the former Guangzhou Daily editor-in-chief is guilty or not guilty of, there is no denying his media savvy Li Yuanjiang was not available for an interview. The former publisher and editor-in-chief of the Guangzhou Daily has been held incommunicado since July last year, when party investigators detained him in connection with their corruption investigation into China's most successful newspaper. But conversations with friends, former colleagues and business associates of Mr Li give a picture of an extremely able and visionary newspaperman and business executive. Mr Li was chosen to run the Guangzhou Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Guangzhou Party Committee, in 1991. Not yet 40, he was the youngest person to head a major media outlet in China and inherited a bland vehicle that required generous subsidies. The challenge facing Mr Li was considerable and augmented by the fact that he was in charge of an essentially local media organ. As such, the Guangzhou Daily's predicament was far more complicated than that of, for example, the Southern Weekend, a weekly published under the auspices of the Guangdong Party Committee's Nanfang Daily Group and commonly regarded as one of China's best newspapers. The Southern Weekend made its mark in the late 1990s through investigative exposes of far-flung scandals - it rarely, if ever, embarrassed its patrons on the Guangdong Party Committee by outing scandals closer to home and therefore continued to enjoy their protection. The committee turned a blind eye not because it appreciated good journalism but because the Southern Weekend's revolutionary brand of reportage attracted readers, advertisers, profits and - crucially - tax revenues. While most newspapers in China, including the Guangzhou Daily, have learned a trick or two from the Southern Weekend and sharpened their coverage of far-away provinces, Mr Li could not ignore the fact that his newspaper was still the Guangzhou Party Committee's main media outlet. The Southern Weekend could let its sister publications under the Nanfang Daily Group worry about local news and the tedious but requisite reporting of the latest government work report. The Guangzhou Daily did not have this luxury. But Mr Li did realise that little things could go a long way. Boring speeches from party central were not always stripped across the front page - they were frequently shunted into narrower column strips. Government work reports were broken up into smaller, more readable paragraphs; bullet points and summary boxes of the key points were used. In terms of giving readers what they really wanted, the Guangzhou Daily ran larger pictures, introduced colour printing, played up 'neighbourhood' news stories and launched new sections catering to an increasing wealthy readership's hunger for information about international affairs, homes and cars. Operationally, the Guangzhou Daily was the first newspaper on the mainland to establish a group structure, paving the way for a stable of sister publications. It also seized back control over subscription and circulation services from the Post Office to ensure timely delivery to readers' homes. The result was a product that was far more interesting and readable than any other paper on local newsstands. By the end of the decade, the Guangzhou Daily claimed a circulation of more than one million copies and advertising revenue approaching one billion yuan (HK$937 million). What had been a drain on Guangzhou's coffers was transformed by Mr Li, who was later promoted to president of the Guangzhou Daily Group, into one of the city's largest taxpayers. Flush with cash, the Guangzhou Daily built what its executives claim is Asia's most advanced printing facility. And - being a state-owned enterprise allergic to synergies - it diversified into sectors such as property development. Both of these adventures would later come back to haunt Mr Li. The head of the printing centre would be detained by investigators, while the general manager of the group's property development company was the first - and, so far, only - Guangzhou Daily executive to be formally charged. As for Mr Li, he was expelled from the party in July for allegedly taking more than one million yuan in bribes and leading a 'decadent lifestyle'. But was the Guangzhou Daily really a nest of corruption? Or did it simply play the same games with its money that so many other state-owned enterprises do? For example, it built a lavish clubhouse retreat where employees could recreate and where important advertising clients were entertained. It was rumoured that investigators suspected prices for the European printing equipment were inflated so the group could move money offshore, which it used to buy properties in Hong Kong. There was a sense among senior Guangzhou Daily executives that they deserved more than their SOE wages for the empire they had built. And before leaving the Guangzhou Daily in the latter half of 2001 to become head of the Guangzhou Party Committee's propaganda department, Mr Li did joke with an acquaintance about the diminished perks that his promotion entailed. The president of the Guangzhou Daily, he said, had a better car than the head of the propaganda department. Businessmen who have worked with Mr Li were usually impressed by his pragmatic approach to deals - in particular his instinct of finding a way around obstacles rather than creating more of them. One Hong Kong-based executive said he was grateful that dealing with Mr Li never involved lavish and tedious drinking sessions. While it will probably never be known if Mr Li is really guilty, the irony of his fate is easy to appreciate. Having built up a successful newspaper group, he talked of stock-market listings and growing the Guangzhou Daily Group into a multi-media conglomerate. With former Guangdong party secretary Li Changchun now on the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing and responsible for media issues, Guangzhou is the most likely test-bed for further reforms, perhaps along the lines envisioned by Mr Li. Last week, it was reported that Guangdong's media would be encouraged to invest abroad. Yet, it is doubtful whether the current editors of Guangzhou's newspapers will be equal to any challenging new opportunities. Mr Li's successor at the Guangzhou Daily arrived with a People's Liberation Army background. Mr Li's top lieutenant, former editor-in-chief He Xiangqin, was also implicated in the scandal and has been replaced by Xue Xiaofeng, previously editor of an obscure Beijing-based trade newspaper. Similar purges have occurred at other Guangzhou newspapers. Guangzhou government sources say Mr Xue was selected for his strong dangxing, or 'party character'. Mr Li was apparently lacking in that department, which may explain why he was so good at running a newspaper. Biography Former Guangzhou Daily editor-in-chief and president Li Yuanjiang was a skilful entrepreneur who, unusually, worked within the confines of the state-owned sector. Appointed editor of the Guangzhou Daily in 1991, Mr Li oversaw the newspaper's transition into the mainland's most commercially successful publication. Soon after his transfer to the Guangzhou Party Committee in late 2001, a corruption investigation led to the detention of Mr Li's successor, He Xiangqin in January 2002. Mr Li was detained six months later and stripped of party membership last month. Criminal charges are probably inevitable.