Second Thoughts on the Chairman

Monday, Oct. 15, 1979
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In keeping with the business-like mood of Deng's modernization effort, the 30th celebration was strikingly subdued. Gone were the lavish fireworks displays and parades of earlier anniversaries. Still, the New China News Agency had promised that Peking would be given "a new look, with many billboards freshly painted." As it turned out, this meant that some Mao quotations were painted over and replaced with road safety signs and exhortations to strive for modernization. Peking's 7.5 million population salvaged some holiday spirit from the capital's markets, which were specially stockpiled with 1 million chickens and 300,000 ducks, geese, grouse, hare and fish. In addition, stores were supplied with copious quantities of mao-tai, a fiery liquor as potent as rocket fuel.

Anniversary day was also marked by a noisy demonstration. Some 400 disgruntled citizens marched to Peking's city hall to protest against the police who had dismantled an outdoor exhibit of unofficial art. Said one of the banners carried aloft on Qian Men Street: "If you want political democracy, you must have democracy for art." Officials benignly promised to forward their complaints and petitions to higher authorities. The fact that the demonstrators dared to take to the streets at all during the national holiday underscored the stop-go permissiveness toward dissent that characterizes Deng's regime. Following a crackdown last spring, similar public protests have been taking place with increasing frequency. Hundreds of poor peasants regularly travel to Peking to object to rural living conditions.

The chief posthumous beneficiary of the celebrations may turn out to be Liu Shaoqi (Liu Shao-chi), the former Chinese head of state who was Mao's main rival in the power struggle of the early 1960s and who reportedly died in disgrace in 1969. There were signs that his escutcheon might soon be refurbished. In his speech Ye paid Liu an indirect compliment by mentioning the "great importance" of a party congress that had been dominated by Liu. More dramatic was the sudden re-emergence of Liu in a huge new painting depicting the leaders who had assembled with Mao—and Ye—for the proclamation of the People's Republic three decades ago.