China: "The authorities have been too involved in the stock market and now they're trying to pass the responsibilities to others,"

Xi just changed the rules of the game in China — and that makes things scarier for everyone

by Linette Lopez


The rules of engagement have changed in China.

There was a time when loyalty to the party, and loyalty to President Xi Jinping, meant the government left you alone.

But there is now a crisis on, and even those who thought they might be safe from the president's ongoing crackdown on corruption need to watch their backs.

Someone has to take the fall for a crashing stock market, a slowing economy, and the 145 people killed as a result of an industrial accident in Tianjin earlier this month.

And it's not going to be President Xi Jinping.

On Thursday the news broke that Liao Hong, president and editor-in-chief of The People's Daily Online, has been arrested.

The news has set the country abuzz, and not because yet another powerful figure in China has been taken down.

Liao runs a publication that has shown nothing but loyalty to the government. George Chen, managing editor of the Hong Kong publication The South China Morning Post, calls The People's Daily a "party mouthpiece."

It seems the mouthpiece isn't on message.

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