The Political Fortunes of Shanghai's `World Economic Herald'

Abstract

The World Economic Herald (Shijie jingji daobao) earned its reputation as China's most liberal and forthright newspaper soon after its foundation in 1980. For the first two years of publication it confined itself to issues of international economics, but then began addressing questions about China's economy. In the past two years or so the paper had adopted as its working premise the idea that without political reform China's economic reforms will falter. The weekly newspaper is by far the most famous of the handful of 'unofficial' publications that have emerged in China since the introduction of economic reforms. While it is not formally endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it is sponsored by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the China World Economic Society. This 'unofficial' status has meant that in ordinary times it has had to pay higher prices for newsprint and for distribution through the post office. It has always been printed on the presses of the official Liberation Daily (Jiefang nrbao) and, until the events of April-May 1989, was not required to submit its proofs to official scrutiny before going to press. In times of political uncertainty for example during the 'Spiritual Pollution Campaign' of 1983 and the 'Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign' of early 1987 it has survived because its staff, principally long-serving Party member and editor-in-chief, Qin Benli, was adept at gauging the political climate, lying low when necessary and resurfacing at the appropriate moment. The newspaper acquired some powerful allies, notably Zhao Ziyang and, as the Western media usually label them, his 'think tanks' the Research Centres for Restructuring the Economic System and for Reform of the Political Structure. Intellectuals from these centres and many other academic institutions throughout