Party leader’s new memoir a hit

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Former Premier Li Peng, a core third generation Party leader, has released a new autobiography that has already became a national best-seller.

In the book, Li specifically clears a long-circulated rumor that he was Zhou Enlai’s adopted son. He also recounts his younger days together with the country’s early founders including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.

"My relation with Premier Zhou and Mother Deng is that of veteran comrades and orphans of the revolutionary martyrs. They treated me and other children of revolutionary martyrs with love and care," Li writes in his memoir.

The book, entitled Li Peng Memoir: 1928-1983 recounts Li’s life and career from 1928, when he was born, to 1983, when he was named vice premier. The book contains 16 compelling chapters and is filled with more than 130 photos.

The memoir is a joint publication between the Central Committee Documents Press and the China Electric Power Press, as the latter published several of Li’s other works on electric power systems.

Li’s editor Zhang Dalong told Chinese media that the 86-year-old former premier wrote all the book’s content by himself and even prepared the photos on a computer before handing the manuscript off to his publishers.

"He was a science major and operates computers well," Zhang said, adding Li has formed a habit of writing every day, and the book is a result of his "little habit."

One chapter of the book is dedicated to Li’s marriage and family.

"Li is not only the witness of the Party’s Yan’an era, but also a practitioner of the Yan’an spirit," The People’s Daily commented, as it introduced the memoir last Friday, July 4..