How narcissistic youth might help struggling Chinese booksellers

IN 1993, AFTER 14 years of imprisonment, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, Wei Jingsheng, was taken on a tour of Beijing. Authorities hoped that the dazzling new architecture and bustling roads would convince him that the Communist Party he so stubbornly opposed had done great things. Mr Wei admitted to being impressed, but asked to see a bookshop before drawing any firm conclusions.

His tour guides obliged, and later he recounted his “eye-opening” visit. Chinese bookshops remained too conservative, he wrote. They were managed by old officials who didn’t even like books and displayed staid party literature. Bureaucrats would “rather build tall skyscrapers and purchase fancy limousines than…allow the book and culture markets to really open up,” wrote Mr Wei.