More important for Tibetans inside Tibet is how China might be affected by events in Eastern Europe. It was Romania s revolution that hit China hardest. The fall of Ceausescu sent China s geriatric leaders into a frenzied building of defences. Only weeks earlier, during a visit by Romania s dictator, China s media had presented the two countries as the last bastions of socialism in a traitorous world. On 21 December, as pro-democracy demonstrators went onto the streets of Bucharest, Jiang Zemin, the General Secretary of China s Communist Party, went on Beijing Radio.
China is very different from Eastern Europe.
The Chinese leaders tried to draw attention away from events in Europe by talking of socialism with Chinese characteristics and reviving the works of Confucius and Mao. But on the streets of Beijing citizens let off fireworks in celebration of the death of Ceausescu. In February China s leaders, fearful of wavering loyalties in its two armed forces, increased political control. When it was believed that Ceausescu was heading for China, a poster went up at Beijing University describing the dictator as a lost dog coming to join China s four dogs . There are also signs that the events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have affected ethnic minorities within China.