Despite the peaceful façade of proletarian uniformity that it presents to impressed foreign visitors these days, China for years has been a divided and unsettled country. The upheavals of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966-69 and the purges that followed the abortive 1971 coup of Army Leader Lin PiaoChairman Mao Tse-tung's designated successordenuded the Communist Party's leadership and plunged its bureaucracy into disarray. Since 1971 China has had no head of state, no defense minister, and no army chief. The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the powerful Politburo both have been functioning at half-strength.
No Fanfare. China has...
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