The Chongqing press has stopped singing red and striking black, and former city boss Bo Xilai is unlikely to grace its newspaper front pages again. But Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang is not lying low.
Bo’s state-led, neo-Maoist ‘Chongqing Model’ has often been compared to Wang’s ‘Guangdong Model’ that is seen as more private enterprise-friendly and politically liberal. Bo’s fall has been widely interpreted as the death of the Chongqing Model, but the no such obituaries have been written for the Guangdong Model.
Today’s Chongqing Economic Times sings the praises of tax-paying companies, specifically mentioning privately-owned enterprises that many considered under attack during Bo’s tenure a Chongqing Party Secretary. In contrast, the front page of today’s Shenzhen Metropolis Daily features a headline about Wang Yang riding in the subway, reading a newspaper. The newspaper is in fact the Shenzhen Metropolis Daily, and the front page headline screams: ‘Wang Yang rides the subway, and praises this newspaper as ‘done really well”.
Microblogger Media Old Wang posted the front page to his Sina Weibo, eliciting a stream of critical comments about the newspaper, such as ‘The leader made a polite remark and they take it as something that can save their life…’
Links and sources:
Shenzhen Metropolis Daily: 汪洋乘地铁赞本报“办得不错”