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Big Cleanup. Once unleashed, however, the forces were difficult to harness. To this day, the nation remains in disarray. Last month, with the aid of the army, the regime launched a "big cleanup." Since then, there have been reports of mass arrests, public trials and even executions of "factionalists, reactionaries, anarchists, saboteurs and opportunists." It is unclear whether the campaign is intended simply to put China's house in order for the Oct. 1 anniversary or whether it is part of the army's larger, long-range drive to restore peace and order.
Factional fighting still flares frequently in the provinces. In Shansi, troops have had to be called in from elsewhere to still rioting. In Tibet, small guerrilla clashes are said to be frequent, and there are reports that the Panchen Lama, once considered a willing tool of Peking, has escaped from prison. In Szechwan, one of China's rice bowls, an armed group calling itself the "Red Worker-Peasant Guerrilla Column" is said to be roaming the hills. In Hunan, Chairman Mao's home province, authorities complain that "the trend of anarchism ran rampant" all last summer. In Kiangsu, Maoist cultural cadres are vociferously denouncing "rock-'n'-roll crazy dances and vulgar and revolting actions in some so-called revolutionary dances."
Many members of China's younger generation seem disaffected—some because they want no part of Maoist puritanism and idealism, others because they feel that the Chairman has not gone far enough in his efforts to regenerate the revolution. Indeed, throughout the population, the Cultural Revolution seriously undermined respect for authority. Abroad, China's position is not much better. Peking has lost much face in Asia and Africa. Once the Third World carefully watched the competition between India and China. India still has trouble aplenty, but economic planners no longer seriously consider the "Chinese model." Albania is China's only real friend, and Peking has but a few close acquaintances—Pakistan, Rumania, Syria, Nepal, Tanzania, Mali, Guinea. Peking has diplomatic relations with only 46 countries, and at present keeps ambassadors in 18 of them. During the Cultural Revolution, all but one of them were recalled to Peking.
Many experts assume that when Mao dies, his anointed heir, Defense Minister Lin Piao, will take over the chairmanship of the party. His rule will most likely be only temporary; behind the scenes, the country may well be run by a collective leadership. Challengers are likely to rise from the radical left, headed by Mao's wife Chiang Ching and such Cultural Revolution stalwarts as Ideologue Chen Pota. Eventually, however, more moderate forces may prevail, perhaps clustered around Premier Chou En-lai and the politically savvy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Huang Yung-sheng.