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The Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog raised eyebrows over the long weekend by breaking with its usual lists of corrupt officials to suggest several places that cadres could spend the Labour Day holiday reading.
On its smartphone app, the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI) recommended three bookstores: a state-owned bookstore in downtown Beijing, a store for antique books and Chinese classics, and a privately owned bookshop once known as a gathering place for liberal intellectuals.
“Established in 1988, Sun Way Books is among Beijing’s first to host book signings, small-scale indoor concerts and cultural exchanges,” read CCDI’s recommendation, which was posted alongside photos of the bookstore’s interior.
The graft-buster even hailed Sun Way’s serene atmosphere as one that “could hardly be experienced elsewhere”.
But it skipped over the history that made the bookstore famous.
Until a tightening on dissent in early 2011, Sun Way had been a frequent host to lectures by liberal intellectuals.
Speakers and members of the audience – a mixture of teachers, students, professors, officials and journalists – would talk for hours on such sensitive issues as human rights, political reform, bailing out state enterprises, social instability and democracy. Past speakers have included veteran journalists Yang Jisheng, who talked about the famine and deaths caused by Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward”, and Dai Qing, who discussed the environmental threats caused by the Three Gorges Dam.
The bookstore came under the spotlight in 2010 when the then US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman gave the audience a taste of an American-style town-hall meeting, speaking to more than 200 people on sensitive issues such as human rights.
One of the bookstore’s owners said he had no idea that it had been recommended by the CCDI and declined to comment.
For cadres who felt Sun Way was not their cup of tea, the graft-buster also recommended Cathay Bookshop on Liulichang Street, known for its rare Chinese books, and the politically correct, state-owned Xinhua Bookstore in Wangfujing.
 


China’s Communist Party graft-buster recommends once-liberal bookstore to cadres

A photo of Sun Way Books, as used on the CCDI's website. Photo: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

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Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection strangely recommends party officials frequent shop once known as a haunt of liberal intellectuals


China’s Communist Party graft-buster recommends once-liberal bookstore to cadres

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection strangely recommends party officials frequent shop once known as a haunt of liberal intellectuals

Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection strangely recommends party officials frequent shop once known as a haunt of liberal intellectuals