Communist China was blaring its year-end blessings. Into Peking's Great Hall of the People swarmed 2,836 delegates to the rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, for its third session in 15 years. Among the "elected" Deputies on hand was, of course, Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung, who had just celebrated his 71st birthday, and who, according to the New China News Agency, was still the object of "boundless love."
Principal item on the agenda was a state-of-the-union message of Premier Chou En-lai that required two days to deliver. Conceding that "several years ago" there had been "serious difficulties," Chou declared...