Word: mao
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...date on the Chinese calendar is more sacred than Oct. 1, when Peking celebrates the final triumph of Mao Tse-tung's army over the Nationalists in 1949. But last week, for the first time in 22 years, there was no lavish National Day banquet, no parade through Tienanmen Square, no ringing editorials, no pecking-order appearance by Chairman Mao and the Chinese leadership atop the massive Gate of Heavenly Peace. For the watching world, there was also no explanation-only occasional half-hearted denunciations by Radio Peking of what it mocked as "rumormongering by the capitalists and revisionists...
...Mao dead? He is believed to have an advanced case of Parkinson's disease, and was last seen in public on Aug. 7. But Mao's death had been falsely reported so many times in the past that China watchers were understandably leary of once again speculating about his health. Besides, the Peking Foreign Ministry publicly insisted that the Chairman is "alive and well," and Mao's wife, Chiang Ching, had been seen smiling and apparently unperturbed at a banquet a week after the crisis began...
...from the possibility of another border confrontation with the Soviets, dismissed by most observers, to the more likely possibility of disagreement over an impending meeting of the National Peoples' Congress. Nothing could be held wholly impossible. But most China-watching experts focused their attention on the fate of Mao's heir-designate, Defense Minister and Vice Chairman Lin Piao...
...known to suffer from chronic tuberculosis and has not been seen since June. His death or incapacity might be more disruptive than the death of Mao himself. If Mao were to die, his successor, at least, would be preordained. But if the chosen successor himself were to die, there would inevitably be a scramble over who should move into his place...
Curiosity about Lin's status has been mounting since Sept. 11 when the New China News Agency announced, with great fanfare, that it was going to distribute a series of color pictures on the career of Mao. The announcement contained unusual emphasis on the ties between Mao and Lin Piao, eulogizing the Vice Chairman as "the brilliant example for the whole party, the whole army, and the people all over the country." After such a buildup, it was strange indeed that the release of the pictures was delayed for almost ten days...