The latest issue of the China International Business magazine carries one account, largely derived from a report last month in the spirited Southern Weekend newspaper. State-run television has also been reporting in recent days on the saga of illegal taxes being imposed in Jiangxi. It also showed the tale of a farmer who was detained for two weeks for selling copies of the offending manual. A month after the book was published, up to 20,000 farmers rioted in protest at unfair local taxes. The levies come on top of a general rural tax and are imposed by local officials.
Farmers claim much of the money raised is squandered by officials on banquets, cars and high living.
Four days of protests centred on the city of Fengcheng were put down by police and paramilitary forces. Beijing has been loudly campaigning against corruption in Jiangxi for more than a year as part of a broader crackdown on official graft. The provincial vice-governor, Hu Changqing, was executed earlier this year after being convicted on corruption charges. While the riots in Jiangxi might not in themselves have posed a serious threat to national stability, they did send a salutary message to Beijing about the future sources of challenge to the authority of the Communist Party. The central government has heeded in part the call for a fairer go in rural China, where 900million of the country's 1.3billion people live.