China Puts Journalist On Trial – Edward Cody

From the Washington Post:

A veteran Fuzhou journalist stood trial Thursday in the final step in a retaliation campaign launched after a Communist Party official gained national fame by publicly denouncing his superiors for condoning and covering up corruption.

The case, in southern Fujian province on the Taiwan Strait, opened a window on an important but infrequently discussed aspect of China’s national problem with corruption: So many officials have become involved in business during 25 years of economic liberalization, according to the Fujian whistle-blower and other analysts, that bribery, rather than being an individual deviation, has become characteristic of the party’s rule in thousands of Chinese cities and towns.