CHINA: The Yi & the Miao

Nominations for the presidium of China's National Assembly were closed, or so everyone supposed, when up rose Ma Ching-oung, a rebel from the west. Ma could spin a prayer wheel, but he had never heard of Robert's Rules of Order. Wrapped in his purple lama's robe, his sharp eyes aglitter and his skinny arms aflutter, the delegate from Sikang Province cried hotly into the mike:

"There are candidates for parties, professions, provinces . . . why is there no candidate for the native tribes? ... I demand equality or I'll quit. . ....

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