"It's coming out on August 16," said Bao Pu, head of the Hong Kong-based New Century Press, which has published politically sensitive books in the past.

Yu Jie, the 36-year-old author of the book called "Wen Jiabao: China's Best Actor," has already been interrogated in Beijing by state security agents and warned that publishing the book could see him sent to prison.

Bao said he had asked Yu to think long and hard before agreeing to release the book in Hong Kong, which as one of China's special administrative regions enjoys relative freedom of expression.

"After receiving the manuscript, I hesitated for a long time, and I asked him to think about the consequences and whether this was really something he wanted to carry through," he said.

Bao said he met Yu when he came to Hong Kong last month during the city's book fair.

"I gave him 24 hours to think again about whether this was worth it, as the last thing I want is for him to go to jail for the book, but 24 hours later, he started talking about how many copies we were going to print."

Yu's books have been banned on the mainland since 2004 but are widely available in Hong Kong.

According to Bao, he wrote one about President Hu Jintao last year, which went unnoticed.

However, the book on Wen is likely to cause shockwaves, as China's premier enjoys a generally good reputation both at home and abroad, where he is sometimes described as progressive.

But Yu told AFP in a recent interview he thought this view was skewed, and that the 67-year-old premier had actually worked with Hu to further restrict civil liberties and increase the powers of China's feared secret police.

Bao is no stranger to controversy -- he published the memoirs of deposed former Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang last year.

But he was forced to halt the publication of former Chinese premier Li Peng's diary in June, citing "copyright issues" and interference. On this occasion, though, Bao said he was confident the publication would go ahead.

"So far there has been no interference," he said.

earlier related report
China protesters cut off and swallow fingertips
Beijing (AFP) Aug 5, 2010 - Four protesters in Beijing cut off their fingertips and swallowed them in a desperate bid to bring attention to their cause, state media reported Thursday.

The men, from the central province of Hunan, travelled to the capital to seek resolution of a dispute with their former employer, who they claim sacked them on trumped-up charges, the official Global Times newspaper said.

They gathered at Tsinghua University, one of the nation's most highly regarded, on Sunday and rested their hands on books on the pavement, the report said.

Then, in front of hundreds of bystanders, each in turn held a cleaver and brought it down, cutting the tops off their little fingers and swallowing the severed tips, it added.

"I felt so calm doing that, as we have been driven from pillar to post," Li Bo, one of the men, was quoted as saying.

The four have since been seized by police and forced out of Beijing, the report said.

The case highlights the desperate measures some people in China will take to bring attention to grievances that have been ignored by local governments or courts.

Over the past year, some protesters have even set themselves on fire and died to prevent their houses or businesses from being demolished, in cases that have shocked the nation.

According to Li, the electric power bureau in Hunan's Yongzhou city fired the four in December 2008 on charges of absenteeism, which he says were wrong.

They tried to have their case heard at the city's committee for labour disputes, which rebuffed them, claiming they had never worked for the electricity bureau.

Last month they filed a lawsuit against their former employer but a court in Hunan rejected it, the report said.

Li alleged the four had also received death threats from local government officials in Hunan, and after all legal avenues were exhausted, they decided to come to Beijing as a last resort, it added.

Under a system dating from imperial times, Chinese people can petition government authorities in Beijing over injustices or unresolved disputes.

However, many such petitioners complain of official unresponsiveness to their concerns, while others report being detained by authorities and kicked out of the capital to be sent home.

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