CHINA: Peking's Poster Politics

An outbreak of democratic feelings—orchestrated by Teng Hsiao-p'ing

"If the masses feel some anger, we I must let them express it." With I those words, spoken to a visiting Japanese politician, China's diminutive Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-p'ing put an official stamp of approval on the extraordinary eruption of political expression that had gripped Peking for the past two weeks. In an atmosphere reminiscent of London's lively Hyde Park Speakers' Corner, the voices of young orators demanding "true freedom, true democracy and true human rights" echoed through the early winter dusk. Thousands filed...