A tall tell-all tale from the dark side of Chinese power
Its authenticity may be in doubt but a CCTV anchor's 'autobiography' about her dangerous political liaison with Zhou Yongkang is a big hit
Crowding together often for hours at a time, they silently and quickly flip through the pages to devour the juiciest parts, sometimes buying one even though they are well aware that having such books could land them in trouble on the border crossing home. The mainland authorities have stepped up border checks for such material and offenders, particularly officials, face censure.
The publishers and the authors, mostly using pseudonyms, take advantage of the opaque nature of mainland politics to churn out books to satisfy the mainland public's curiosity. But most of the so-called exposés have proved to be more fictional than factual, culled largely from online rumours.
From time to time, the publishers also release autobiographies supposedly written by mainland political players, and more often than not they become instant hits.
The latest one to fly off the shelves is . Published in October, Shen's supposed autobiography offers an implausible but compelling account of the decadent lives of former Chinese leaders, their relatives, and China's most famous television personalities.
Shen, 38, was a well-known CCTV anchor for 14 years before she was reportedly taken away by anti-graft investigators in December 2013 along with several other beautiful presenters from the network. The investigators were reportedly looking into the anchors' alleged romantic dalliances with Zhou as the authorities built their case against the former Politburo Standing Committee member and highest ranking official to be ensnared in the anti-corruption campaign.
Despite intense online speculation, the authorities kept a tight lid on Zhou's case until December when the party announced that he had been arrested on corruption charges. One of the accusations against him was that he committed adultery with a number of women and traded his power for sex and money. Shen was rumoured to be among those women because of her long association with Zhou, who promoted her to a senior post at the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the top national security body.
Shen's supposed tell-all book came out just as the public's appetite for information had been whetted by rumours that Zhou plotted to challenge Xi's leadership and had his first wife murdered so he could marry a CCTV anchor.
But the authenticity of Shen's book has been in doubt from the start, not least because it was supposedly written while she was in detention and is riddled with factual errors, including the dates of key events. Moreover, the book's Hong Kong agent refuses to say how the transcript was obtained, edited and printed.
But many well-connected mainlanders, including some party officials, have found most - if not all - of the book credible. They argue that even if Shen did not write it herself, the details could only have come from someone who had intimate knowledge of Chinese politics and the lives of the top leaders.
The book chronicles Shen's rise from a talented young girl born into an ordinary family in Zhangjiagang , to her university studies in Singapore and reporting days on the city-state's leading Chinese-language newspaper .
She won a competition to join CCTV in 2000 and soon became acquainted with the high life through discreet but extravagant gatherings of the elite. The book vividly describes the dinner party where she first met Zhou and Zeng Qinghong , another of the most powerful officials at the time, and how they made fun of the rumour that folk singer Song Zuying could "cure" former president Jiang's "illnesses" with her high-pitched songs.
Despite the book's title, only a few of its 430 pages focus on Shen's direct interactions with Zhou, including an admission that she repeatedly slept with Zhou - the main subject of the investigation against her. The rest is devoted to the dirty secrets of mainland TV personalities.
Contrary to the widespread portrayal of Zhou as a monster, the book presents him as generous to his friends. It also seeks to dispel the murder rumours about his first wife, suggesting that he simply divorced her before remarrying.
