Mission Accomplished. Now What?

Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images

HAPPY HOST: President Hu Jintao, center, stands tall during the Olympics' closing ceremony

As most Chinese media were celebrating Beijing's Olympics successes, a magazine named Southern Window — a highbrow biweekly with a circulation of 500,000 — broke from the pack. On the cover of the magazine's Aug. 11 issue, there is no photograph of the sparkling Bird's Nest stadium, no triumphant Chinese athlete fondling one of the country's 51 gold medals. Instead, there is an illustration of law textbooks and a teacher with a wooden pointer giving instruction to a businessman and a government official. The cover line: "Rule of Law Starts with Limitation of Power." Sounds boring? In...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!