From the Shenzhen Daily:
Veteran journalist Li Yuanjiang, who founded China’s first press group and was later sentenced to prison for accepting bribes, has become the first person in Guangdong to complete a Ph.D. in prison.
Li, former president of the Guangzhou Daily Press Group, has so far served three years of a 12-year term in Sihui Prison.
On Aug. 2, Li, 54, received a certificate from school of international relations of Renmin University, yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily cited Shang Dongping, head of Sihui Prison as saying.
Li Jingzhi, a Renmin University professor, lauded Li Yuanjiang’s graduation thesis on the internationalization of Chinese media as having “great academic value.”
Frankly, I think he may be on to something. How much easier it would be to finish a dissertation without all of those nasty distractions like “fresh air,” “travel,” and not having to waste time TAing to come up with the cash for big ticket items such as “food,” “shelter,” and “clothing.”
Not that Li is study, study, study. In his spare time, he is famously an editor and writer for the prison newspaper.
“I know the operations of the paper, this is my speciality,” Li