WORKMEN had all but finished festooning the reviewing stand atop the mammoth vermilion-pillared Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Peking's Tienanmen Square. The spectators' stand had been built and bamboo scaffolding prepared for the traditional giant portraits of Mao Tse-tung and Lenin. Squadrons of military and civilian marchers were rehearsing for the biggest event on the Chinese political calendar, the National Day parade, scheduled for Oct. 1.
Suddenly, all the activity stopped. Peking's Foreign Ministry last week told resident diplomatsbut not the Chinese peoplethat the parade and customary evening fireworks had been canceled. The...
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