Ex-leader's new book already a hot seller

BEIJING - A new book by former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji went on sale at the country's bookstores on Thursday, welcomed by Chinese readers who hail the Zhu-style directness in the book.

Zhu Rongji Speech Record, published by the People's Publishing House, is the second book of talks and comments made by the former Chinese leader. The previous book, a collection of Zhu's talks and interviews with reporters, was published in 2009 and became a best-seller in China.

The new book, consisting of four volumes, contains 348 important speeches, talks, articles, letters and instructions written from 1991 to 2003, when Zhu served as vice-premier then premier of the State Council.

Most of the manuscripts are being published for the first time, according to the book's foreword.

Zhu, now 83, is known for his tough and pragmatic stance on policy. During his administrations, he dealt with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, deepened economic reforms, led the process of joining the World Trade Organization and fought official corruption.

In late April, Zhu disclosed the coming publication of his book when delivering a speech on the centennial anniversary of Tsinghua University, Zhu's alma mater.

"I'm very excited by the book's release," said Liu Haiyang, a 29-year-old civil servant in Beijing, who went straight to a bookshop in Chaoyang district on Thursday to buy his copy.

"I enjoy reading Zhu's impromptu speeches as he is always outspoken, straightforward, speaking the truth and he's also humorous," Liu said, adding that he will be recommending the book to people he knows.

For most readers, the book not only reflects the former premier's charisma but also records China's economic reforms during that period.

"I especially appreciated the book when it revealed Zhu's thoughts on economics and showed the difficulties the country faced at that time," said Liu Yong, a 30-year-old Beijing resident, who added that the book would be a valuable source for researchers.

The high anticipation of readers suggests the book will attract big sales.

"We have plenty of copies of the book as we expect it will sell well," said Ge Fei, deputy manager of the Wangfujing Bookstore, one of the biggest book retailers on Beijing's most famous commercial pedestrian street.

Ge said more than 100 copies were sold by 2:30 pm on Thursday, which is an "extraordinary result" for a new book.

Oxford University Press in Britain published an English edition of Zhu's first book in April, nearly two years after the original Chinese edition was released.