Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, perhaps the most popular of China's senior leaders announced that he is stepping down from his figure-head role as a dean at Beijings's prestigious Qinghua University...
"A small gesture like this can be significant in the Chinese political environment," said Cheng Li. , a professor of government at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and a Chinese political scholar, adding the timing, location and public manner of Zhu's announcement were all significant.
Posted June 8, 2001
