It seems the nation's officials, at all levels, are eager to voice their opinions by publishing books.

Last year, the book market saw a boom in books written by officials, both in terms of number and popularity. The most influential one of this kind is, arguably, Authentic Speeches of Zhu Rongji.

The four-volume collection of the 84-year-old former premier's speeches, talks, articles and letters from 1991 to 2003 is marked by his signature bluntness and reveals the previously untold stories of China's social, economic and political reforms.

One month after its release in September 2011, the four volumes occupied the top four positions on the nonfiction bestseller list issued by Beijing OpenBook, a group specializing in monitoring books' retail sales.

Writing books is not confined to retired officials or national leaders, however.

"Writing has become a fad among officials," Jia Yuying, deputy mayor of Chengde, Hebei province, told Insight China magazine in an interview. According to Jia, more than 200 titles written by officials have been published in recent years in Chengde alone.

Zhang Feng, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government and director of the Guangdong Provincial Population and Family Planning Commission, rose to fame overnight in 2009 with his 10 volumes of cartoons, Brother Feng Talks About Sex.

In November 2011, he published another six-volume series, Brother Feng Comments on Sex, reviewing influential issues related with sex from the points of view of politics, economics, military affairs, culture, arts, movies and TV.

"Talking about sex is my job," Zhang says, adding he hopes to help build a happy Guangdong province by further disseminating sex knowledge and developing sex culture.

Wang Changjiang, professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, attributes the boom of officials writing books to the emergence of a large number of scholar-officials who can learn with an open mind and are able to put theory into practice.

Bao Yueyang, president of China Development Press, says this is a good sign. But he also says that if officials merely want to fish for money or fame in the disguise of writing, then it is not worth promoting.

Yang Guang

(China Daily 02/28/2012 page19)