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."

Li Yuanjiang currently edits the front page of the prison newspaper and also writes commentaries for it.

"I know the operations of the paper, this is my speciality," Li had said in an interview by the China Daily in 2006.

Li reportedly writes 10 stories for the prison newspaper every month. According to the China Daily report, Li's sentence may be reduced on the basis of the number of stories he writes.

In addition to editing the newspaper and writing stories, Li also spends much time reading newspapers and other publications available in prison.

Li told the that he was still attached to the Guangzhou Daily, which he helmed as both editor-in-chief and publisher for a decade.

Once one of the country's major media figures, Li became the publisher of Guangzhou Daily at the age of 38 in 1991.

Under his leadership, the Guangzhou Daily Press Group developed into China's top newspaper group in 1996. The paper's circulation reached more than 1.63 million, the second-largest on the mainland, while the advertising revenues were the highest.

Because of this, Li was named director of the Publicity Department of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC in 2000.

However, in early 2001 a former Guangzhou Daily Press Group employee wrote a letter to the local government saying that Li had accepted bribes. Li was detained in 2002.

In September 2004 he was sentenced to 12 years in jail, convicted of accepting bribes valued at 330,000 yuan (US$43,000), plus US$19,000 and HK$10,000 (US$1,282) between 1991 and 2001.

In 1994, Li took 30,000 yuan in bribes from a local property developer. Between 1996 and 2000, he accepted US$19,000 and HK$10,000 in bribes from a company when he decided to import printing equipment through the company.

According to the verdict, Li was also found to have accepted more than 205,000 yuan from Tao Jian, director of the Advertising Department of the Guangzhou Daily Press Group between 1997 and 2000.

He was also found to have taken bribes from many of his subordinates who wanted to be promoted.

The court said it gave Li a reduced punishment after he returned most of the bribes he had taken and admitted his crimes when he was detained.

(Shenzhen Daily September 20, 2007)