Firecrackers exploded, sirens screamed, airplanes dipped their wings in salute, and Mao Tse-tung said it in poetry that undoubtedly sounded better in Chinese: "A bridge from north to south−an insuperable barrier becomes a thoroughfare."
Thus Red China last week celebrated completion of the first permanent bridge ever laid across the treacherous, tortuous Yangtze River, a mile-long double-deck structure with six-lane highway and double-track railway. For the first time it would be possible to go directly by rail from Hong Kong to Paris.
On the political front, the Communist Chinese had less cause for celebration. In Tibet the Reds admitted temporary...
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