Qin Jiwei

China clamped tight new martial-law restrictions on foreign reporting in Beijing on Thursday, banning interviews with Chinese citizens and virtually all other forms of press coverage. The new rules also ban any photographing or videotaping in the areas around Tian An Men Square, the center of the city where approximately 10,000 young Chinese are continuing their demonstrations for democracy. The crackdown on foreign news reporting could well signal an impending move by the Chinese regime to clear the demonstrators from Tian An Men Square.

A Chinese power struggle is a bit like a family squabble that spills out onto the front yard where all the neighbors can hear the arguments and insults. Amid the tumult, family elders are meeting in the kitchen, behind drawn shades and away from prying eyes, to try to patch things up and hold the clan together. Having watched earlier such outbursts, and knowing who controls the family checkbook, outsiders can guess how it will turn out. But with strong young people chafing at the old ways and demanding changes, the household patriarch may have to give way, and neighbors could find quite a different family living next door.

Conflicting official news reports Wednesday and early today--some painting a rosy picture of the situation in Beijing, others stressing enforcement of martial law--marked an epic battle for control of China raging through the top leadership, the media and the army. The country's three most influential news organizations--the People's Daily, the New China News Agency and the national television network--carried reports Wednesday describing Beijing as socially stable, with an upsurge of politeness between ordinary citizens.

A Chinese rock band, making up in noise what it lacked in sophistication, was banging out Western hits in a small dance hall when a young Chinese man struck up a quiet conversation with a foreigner. The man, a recent college graduate, soon confided that he had been in Tian An Men Square the terrifying night of June 3-4, when tanks rolled into the heart of Beijing against the resistance of angry crowds.

China's leadership puzzle began to fall into place Friday with the reappearance of Communist patriarch Deng Xiaoping, who endorsed last weekend's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators but promised that economic reforms will continue. China's state-run television showed Deng, 84, looking frail but animated, presiding over a meeting at Zhongnanhai, the red-walled leadership compound in central Beijing. He was flanked by conservative allies and a host of army generals. 'Small Number' Accused Deng, who had been away from public view for three weeks, said the crackdown against student protesters centered at Tian An Men Square was needed to defend Communist rule in China.

Michael Jackson's voice blared out in the brisk autumn air, but still it was a slow day at the sidewalk army recruitment booth in Beijing's suburban campus district. "I'm bad, I'm bad, don't you know it!" boomed out the rock star's voice on a loudspeaker set up to attract passersby. But not a single Chinese youth was anywhere near the army propaganda billboards and recruiters' table. The irony of the scene clearly escaped those in charge.

Well, and what was so remarkable about (the first great Chinese Emperor) Qin Shihuang? He executed 460 scholars. We executed 46,000 of them! This is what I answered some democrats. --Mao Tse-tung Once upon a time, there was a country whose rulers completely succeeded in crushing the people; and yet they still believed the people were their most dangerous enemy. --Lu Xun, China's most famous 20th-Century writer . As the people of China ushered in the Year of the Snake on Feb. 6, some of the country's top leaders were already growing edgy about what the snake might bring.

The Romanov eagle had two heads, it is said, to look both east and west. It was a fine symbol for Russia's royal family, but the reality of Russian diplomacy and politics has been quite different. If most of its "body" is physically in Asia, the "head" of Russia has constantly been in Europe, where its history stretches back more than a thousand years. And indeed, since taking charge here 10 months ago, President Boris N.