By EDWARD WONG JULY 16, 2014 6:00 PMJuly 17, 2014 9:30 am
The Chinese term for schadenfreude is xingzai lehuo (幸灾乐祸), and it does not take long for the sentiment to surface at the mention of Rui Chenggang, the smooth-talking state television anchor who was handed to prosecutors last Friday.
Especially delighted are liberal Chinese intellectuals, who were offended by Mr. Rui’s grandstanding manner of touting China’s political and economic systems while cozying up to Western leaders and business executives at events like the World Economic Forum, where he was a regular presence.
‘‘Most people are very happy for his fall,’’ one state media journalist said. ‘‘They hated Rui’s style of representing China or other people.’’
Rui Chenggang before the broadcast of his popular financial news program on CCTV’s Channel 2 in 2009.Credit Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times
The events have unfolded with the speed of a media scandal in the West but with the signature flourishes of the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Rui, 36, was abruptly hauled away on Friday by security officers. Then Chinese news organizations reported that Mr. Rui had held shares in Pegasus, a subsidiary of Edelman, the American public relations firm, while Pegasus had performed services for China Central Television, Mr. Rui’s employer, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Edelman has confirmed central points of the reports.