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Neither the direction nor the duration of the campaign against spiritual pollution can be predicted. Some observers in Peking suggest that Deng may be punishing "rightists" in order to protect himself against attacks from the left; others suspect that the current campaign, like others before it, may have already moved further and faster than was intended. With the government seesawing between its commitment to progress and its loyalty to doctrine, nobody knows which is the safest position to assume. As one typically contradictory press commentary declared last week: "Mao's thought was essentially correct. This can be seen from his mistakes."
—By Pico Iyer.
Reported by David Aikman/Peking